Reaching the Omega Point
by makuta7
Summary: I'm back with another Sonic fan fiction! Sonic and his friends, along with Silver, go on an intergalactic adventure to rescue Blaze, however, Sonic has his own interests in mind, as do Tails and Shadow. Will they find Blaze and discover the secrets to the two mysterious factions that they must side with, or will it be too late when they unearth the truth? Read and find out!
1. Chapter 1 (Sonic)

Chapter 1 A Test of Trust

My name is Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm renowned as the fastest thing alive and my adventures are normally not far behind, but this is a tale of an adventure where I actually decided to slow down. Indeed it was not my intention, but with the consent of my friends and the love of someone who I consider closer than a friend, I was actually able to see beyond the path that stood before my ever-hastening feet. Believe me, I am not easily impressed, but this adventure that I had the fortune of taking was far greater than any other adventure that I had partaken in the past and most likely the future. It was a quest to find and save a long lost friend, or at least that's what we were told. My mind is nearly as quick as my feet, but even I did not expect that we would be finding more than one long lost friend along the way, or that we would be betrayed before our journey came to an end. And yet all of these things came to pass during our adventure of heroes and heroine, of joy and passion, of horror and vengeance.

My adventure began, like most, with a very optimistic goal. My best friend, Tails the Fox, had asked me to come to his workshop, telling me that he had created a new invention. However, this was quite the understatement.

"Sonic! You've got to come to my workshop! I've just finished a new project I've been working on the past few months!" Tails exclaimed as he flew towards me.

I was enjoying my morning jog at the time and did not appreciate his interruption.

"Tails, you should know by now that you don't have to rush me!" I laughed.

"Sonic, this is serious! Lives are at stake, quite possibly our own!" Tails said impatiently.

"All right! Don't get your tails in a twist. I'll be right there." I sighed as I reluctantly followed him.

I followed Tails to his workshop where he cautiously began to look around as if to see that no unwanted eyes were watching him.

"Let's go, Tails! We don't have all day." I said as I walked inside.

I was shocked to find my friends, Knuckles, Silver, and Amy leaning over a table with a small device rested atop its surface.

"Get away from that! It is highly unstable!" Tails exclaimed as he carefully grabbed the device.

"Sonic! You're here! I was so worried-"

"Yeah, yeah, what's going on here, guys?" I asked, cutting off Amy.

In truth, I did mistreat Amy for despite her demanding nature, she was and still is a very sweet girl, unfortunately it would take me some time to realize this. Never has anyone loved me in the way that she does, for she was gladly willing to sacrifice herself for my well being, though I would have never allowed it. Never has anyone ever cared for me like she does. I only wish that I could have stopped to realize this sooner. It would seem that in my ongoing rush, I found her only to be annoying as if she were holding me back. Only now, do I see how wrong I was.

"It's good to see you, Sonic. Tails just finished his new invention that he says will be the key to helping me find Blaze." Silver said excitedly as he walked over to me.

"You're still looking for her?" I laughed. "Maybe she was just trying to get away from you."

"On second thought, it's not so good to see you, Sonic..." Silver muttered as he clenched his fists.

I was in fact, ignorant on the situation between Silver and his friend, Blaze. All I knew was that she had sealed herself in another dimension. I could not fathom how we would find her.

"Calm down, Silver. Sonic cracks more bad jokes than I've cracked Eggman and his robots. You've just have to ignore him." Knuckles said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Enough arguing, guys! Tails needs to explain his invention." Amy said happily.

We all turned to face Tails.

"Um... Right, this is a multidimensional warp drive. To put it simply, it will allow us to travel to the dimension where Blaze trapped herself. There's only one problem..." Tails sighed.

"What's that?" I asked.

"There's not a single vessel available to us that has the power to run my warp drive." Tails said nervously.

"You mean that you spent all this time making this multi whatever, and you didn't even make a ship that could run it?" I asked in shock.

"Well, I have an idea for something we can use, and I've even drawn blueprints for it and everything, but..." Tails said as he twiddled his thumbs.

"What is it, Tails?" Amy asked impatiently.

"It's... It's the Ark." Tails sighed.

"The Ark? As in the space colony Ark?" Knuckles asked in amazement.

"That's right, but I haven't mentioned it to Shadow, and I'm not sure how he will react." Tails said nervously.

"I doubt that Shadow would appreciate us using the Ark to travel to different dimensions. Are you sure that you can't make something for us to use, Tails?" Amy asked hopefully.

"I suppose that I could, but we don't have time. According to a text that Silver and I researched, we can only enter the dimension that Blaze sealed herself within every millennia. It's called the Omega Point. That will occur at the end of this week and if we don't find a way to get there by then... Well, I guess Silver will just have to travel a thousand years into the future and try again." Tails explained regretfully.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" I said, "Come on guys, Shadow won't mind if we use the Ark."

"I don't know, Sonic, but I guess that it couldn't hurt to try." Tails sighed.

Of course Tails was right, but we had no other choice. He took us to Station Square where we found Shadow at the G.U.N headquarters.

"What are all of you doing here? I suppose that you need my help. You should know that I stay busy." Shadow said annoyed.

"Well, Silver and I have been working on a way to find Blaze and the only way we can do it is to use the Ark to travel through space. We were wondering if this would be all right with you." Tails asked politely.

"You can't be serious! I'm not letting you use the Ark for anything! I wouldn't care if you were trying to save me! Now, go and bother someone else." Shadow yelled angrily.

"Shadow, please, if you don't help us, then I may never be able to see Blaze again. If your doing this for Maria then think of what she would really want you to do." Silver said hopefully.

Shadow looked down at his shoes and then to me.

"I understand your sorrow, Silver. Fine, I will allow you to use the Ark, but only if I can accompany you. I do not want any of you to treat it carelessly." Shadow said frowning as he was obviously still unsatisfied.

"Don't worry, Shadow! We'll make sure to protect the Ark." I laughed.

"It will take more than words to earn my trust, Sonic. I know that I will regret my decision, but your actions will decide how much I am to regret it." Shadow said smiling.

"How are we going to get up to the Ark any way? It's not like we have a space ship." Knuckles asked confused.

"G.U.N has a device that can teleport us to the Ark. I can get you in without being noticed." Shadow assured them.

"Then let's go! We can't waste anymore time!" Amy said impatiently.

"Of course." Shadow said laughing.

He took us to an elevator that led to a large room. In the center was a large circle with several lights surrounding it.

"G.U.N stole this device from Eggman's former base in the desert. Step into the circle and I will activate it." Shadow said as he walked over to a computer.

"Shadow, you better not be tricking us." Knuckles said angrily.

"I gave you my word. What else do you want?" Shadow said frowning.

"Come one Knuckles. He knows what he's doing." I said as I nodded at Shadow.

Knuckles glared at Shadow and reluctantly followed us into the circle. Shadow activated the computer and jumped into the circle with us. We disappeared, not knowing that it would be the last time that we would see the Earth for a very long time.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	2. Chapter 2 (Sonic)

Chapter 2 A Cry from the Cosmos

To my surprise, we suddenly found ourselves on the observation deck aboard the Ark. I was surprised that Shadow had actually kept his word and was helping us.

"Hey, Shadow, thanks! We all appreciate it." I said uncomfortably.

"I did it for Amy. No one else, Sonic." Shadow whispered to me.

Back then it was difficult for me to comprehend why Shadow cared for Amy so much, but apparently she had helped him discover his true purpose for which he was created. Shadow then walked over to Tails who was holding his warp drive.

"Follow me to the control room, Tails. We'll get to work on installing your machine." Shadow said smiling.

"Wow! Thanks, Shadow! You must be in a good mood!" Tails said excitedly.

Shadow rolled his eyes and laughed.

"I'm coming with you guys!" Silver said as he ran to them.

"Me too!" I said hastily.

"No way, Sonic! You can't run off and goof around with your friends! You're going to stay right here and help Knuckles and me unpack our supplies." Amy said as she grabbed my arm.

"Hey! When did I get dragged into this?" Knuckles said annoyed.

Amy glared at Knuckles and he backed off.

Knuckles and I unpacked what few supplies we had brought. Tails had already taken all of his equipment to the control room.

"You know, Amy, Shadow really does care for you a lot. Maybe you should start spending some time with him." I said hopefully.

"That's because Shadow has class and knows how to treat a lady! Now, take these sheets and blankets to the dormitories." She yelled angrily.

We took the blankets and walked down the main corridor.

"Who does Amy think she is, bossing us around like that?" Knuckles yelled in outrage.

"Yeah, just consider yourself fortunate that she's not in love with you..." I sighed.

"I guess we single guys have it pretty easy." Knuckles laughed.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." We heard a voice say from above.

Rouge then swooped down from the ceiling and caused Knuckles to drop his blankets.

"You boys having a slumber party? Well, don't stay up too late. I know how cranky you can get, Knuckles, when you don't get your sleep." Rouge laughed.

"How did you find out that we were here? Did Shadow tell you? Oh, I knew that we shouldn't have trusted him!" Knuckles yelled as he jumped up.

"Relax, Knuckles. Did you actually think that you could use the warp panel without G.U.N. noticing? They sent me to follow you. Well, I volunteered actually."

"Oh yeah? And what made you so eager to tag along?" Knuckles asked impatiently.

"Really, Knuckles? _I'm_ supposed to be the nosey one here, but if you're that interested then I'll tell you that I just wanted to take care of Shadow, and maybe spend some time with you, Knuckles. It can get pretty lonely up here you know." Rouge said pleasantly.

"Yeah, I know. The Master Emerald isn't here." Knuckles said smiling.

"Can you two flirt later? Amy's going to kill me if we don't get these blankets to the dormitories!" I said annoyed.

"Fine. I need to check on Shadow any way. He hasn't been himself lately." Rouge said nervously.

She flew down the corridor and left us. Knuckles grabbed his sheets and we continued down the corridor.

I looked at him and laughed.

"Knuckles, why are you smiling?" I asked.

"What are you talking about, Sonic? Can't you learn to mind your own business?" Knuckles said blushing.

"You're happy that Rouge came along aren't you? You _were_ worried about getting lonely." I laughed.

"The only thing I was worried about was the Master Emerald, but now that she's here with us, I won't have to." He grumbled.

"Whatever you say, Knuckles."

We entered the dormitory and threw the blankets down on the floor.

"Are we all just going to share this one room?" I asked nervously.

"I guess. I'm not sure if Shadow sleeps, and Rouge might just hang from the ceiling or something. Why? Are you worried about Amy?" Knuckles laughed.

"Hey, I'm gonna go check on Tails!" I said hastily as I ran out of the room.

"I found Tails, Silver, and Shadow in the central control room. Amy and Rouge had also joined them. Tails was working on installing his warp drive into the Ark's main computer.

"How's it going, Tails?" I asked excitedly.

"Well, not so good, Sonic. We seem to have a problem." Tails sighed. "Even with the Ark's capabilities, we only have enough power to make a single jump and still maintain the rest of its systems."

"So what you're saying is that if we use this thing we won't be able to return home unless we find another power source? I don't know about this Tails. Couldn't we just use the Chaos Emeralds?" I said apprehensively.

"It's not that easy Sonic. If we inserted the Chaos Emeralds they would only give power to the Eclipse Cannon. I have to re-route the cannons power supply to the main computer which would be difficult and not to mention dangerous. The Eclipse Cannon has so much power that it could destroy the Ark if I transferred all of that energy at once." Tails explained.

"Hang on. Did I just hear that we might not be coming back?" Knuckles yelled as he ran into the control room.

"I'm sorry everyone. I shouldn't have gotten you all into this." Silver sighed.

We all began to stare at Silver with pity until Shadow finally spoke up.

"We have to do it." He said.

"What? Shadow, are you crazy? Do you realize that the Ark may never return to Earth? Would Maria really want you to do this?" Rouge asked in shock.

"Maria would want me to help a friend." Shadow said sternly.

Silver smiled at Shadow and walked over to him.

"Thank you so much, Shadow! Really, you are a true friend!" He said happily.

"Yeah, well... don't get used to it." Shadow mumbled.

"Hey, wait! Don't the rest of us get a say in this?" Knuckles asked nervously.

"Come on, Knuckles. You're just worried that you'll be stuck here with me forever." Rouge laughed.

"Actually that thought hadn't occurred to me... Okay, let's go guys! We shouldn't keep Blaze waiting, right?" Knuckles said embarrassed.

We stared at Knuckles and decided to ignore him.

"Oh, Sonic, think about how romantic this will be! Just the two of us, gazing out at the stars and exploring beautiful new planets!" Amy said as she grabbed my arm.

"Yeah, it sounds great, Amy..." I sighed.

"Is everyone ready? Silver's going to speed up time so that the Omega Point will occur." Tails said excitedly.

We all nodded and Silver began to cause the entire Ark to travel through time. I felt the Ark revolve rapidly around the Earth and saw that everyone else was starting to get dizzy, however, I was accustomed to such speeds and was unaffected. Once we had stopped I suddenly felt a strange presence, almost as if I was leaving my body, and judging by the looks of everyone else, they were experiencing it as well. I then began to see strange visions of space though it was devoid of visible life and yet it was filled with it. There was music all around me and the universe seemed perfect though there was no one to enjoy it. Never had I felt such peace, and listening to the melodies of the stars and other spatial bodies caused me to wonder away from my thoughts until I completely forgot that I myself existed. I had become one with the universe itself.

The vision that had felt all too real suddenly ceased and I found myself lying on the floor of the Ark next to Amy. We all arose and stared at each other in awe. Shadow however, did not wake up and remained unconscious. Rouge ran over to him and knelt down to help him up.

"What's wrong with him? Why isn't he waking up?" Rouge asked in fear.

No one spoke for what felt like hours until Shadow finally sprang to his feet.

"Maria! What happened to you? What... Maria?" Shadow yelled as he gasped for air.

"Shadow? Are you all right?" Rouge asked concerned.

"I'm... I'm fine." Shadow murmured as he stumbled to walk.

"What was that?" Amy asked in wonder.

"Was that... the Omega Point?" Silver asked as he gripped his head.

"I think so. Did we all experience the same illusions?" Tails asked curiously.

"It was no illusion, Tails. It felt as though all life had melded with the universe itself as if it had become one entity of great power." Knuckles said in amazement.

I looked over at Amy and noticed that she had been holding my hand this whole time.

"It's okay, Amy. Everything will be fine." I assured her.

For some reason, after witnessing the Omega Point I felt much less apprehensive towards Amy. In fact, I felt less apprehensive about life itself. I no longer feared what tomorrow would bring, nor was I anxious to find it.

"My vision was nothing like that. I'm not even sure what it was. It all happened so fast." Shadow muttered.

"Really? What was it?" Tails asked inquisitively.

Shadow began to speak, but he stopped when the Ark began to shake violently.

"What was that?" Amy screamed.

Tails ran to the computer and looked at us in confusion.

"Get to the observation window! The Ark is under attack!" Tails said in shock.

We ran down the main corridor with all haste. Shadow and I made it first and we stood motionless as we gazed out at a huge battle that was going on out in space. Both sides seemed to be firing at the Ark which was already deploying its automatic defense systems.

"It looks like we're not alone in this dimension, Shadow, but what should we do? Who's side do we join?" I asked in confusion.

"I know who we must destroy, Sonic. Maria..." Shadow said without taking his eyes off of the battle, his eyes reflecting the fire of the explosions.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	3. Chapter 3 (Sonic)

Chapter 3 An Interstellar Insurgency

Shadow and I stood in the observation deck thinking how we could possibly stop this battle. The frigates in use were like nothing we had ever seen. Though they paled in comparison to the size of the Ark, they were even faster than the X Tornado and shot beams of white light that exploded on contact. The larger battleships fired some sort of incendiary missile that vaporized whatever was in the vicinity upon detonation. The battle was raging so fast that it was hard for even me to keep up with everything! Tails ran into the room and gasped in amazement.

"I can't believe what I'm seeing! Look at how all of their weapons combust into nothing but pure energy, and the speed of their craft is unbelievable! What fuel source could they possibly use? Guys this could be our ticket home!" Tails said excitedly.

"I'm not leaving until I get my answers. That large black and green capital ship, it was in my vision. I'm going after it." Shadow said as he began to leave the room.

"Wait, Shadow! You can't be serious! We have no idea what we are fighting! You would be crazy to go inside that thing! We need to get out of here before we get boarded." Rouge said as she grabbed Shadow's hand.

"I have at least somewhat of an idea as to what the enemy is that we face. All of you should leave without me. I can't go now, not when the answers to my vision are so close." Shadow murmured as he gazed out at the battle.

"Don't worry, Shadow! We'll help you get your answers. Besides, if we fight this unknown enemy now, we can get on the good side of that other fleet that's fighting them. Maybe then, they could in turn help us get enough power to go home after we find Blaze." I said happily, though I knew that it wouldn't be that easy.

"All right, everyone, let's get to the hanger!" Tails said excitedly.

We followed him to the hanger where Tails suddenly stopped and fell to his knees.

"Oh no! I left the X Tornado back home! What are we gonna do?" He yelled in grief.

"That's okay, Tails! Shadow and I can handle this!" I said as I helped him up.

"Alright, Sonic, but I'll have to get to work on building a new plane..." Tails sighed.

"You ready, Shadow?" I asked.

He nodded and I signaled for Tails to open the hanger door.

"Wait! Sonic, I'm going with you!" Amy said as she ran up to me.

"All right, Amy, but don't get hurt. This isn't a little space walk you know." I laughed as I took her hand.

She threw her arms around me and I picked her up.

"Stop wasting time and let's get going!" Shadow yelled impatiently.

I looked back at Tails and he nodded. He reached for the lever, but the door was blown open by an outside blast and we were, for the first time, exposed to the full violence of the battle outside. Lights were flashing all around us and we hit the ground to take cover. However, Shadow did not hesitate and jumped onto one of the fighters as it flew by.

"Amy, you should probably stay here." I said smiling.

"No way, Sonic! I'm going with you!" Amy said as she grabbed my arm.

I smiled and picked her up again. She nodded at me and stared out at the chaos in space.

I jumped out and landed on to the wing of one of the larger frigates. Fortunately, it was heading toward the large vessel that Shadow had indicated earlier. It fired upon the ship, but the blasts exploded on its shields, causing no damage. I ran across the hull until I found the bridge. To my surprise, the ship was being commanded by other Mobians. Though, they did not resemble adult Mobians as far as I remembered. They all wore red and yellow uniforms along with black boots, making them appear more human than normal. Their faces were different as well. They seemed tired and worn, though, as far as I knew, that battle could have been going on for days before we intervened. One of the Mobians looked at me and gasped, but I quickly ran away.

"Shouldn't we try and help them, Sonic?" Amy asked nervously.

"We will. They're doing their part now we have to do ours." I said and jumped onto the vessel that they were fighting. I then saw a large fighter crash into its hull. I jumped down into the ship to find Shadow. Amy jumped out of my arms and glared at Shadow.

"Shadow, you just killed that poor guy!" She yelled.

"I told him to get out. He should have listened." Shadow laughed.

"All right, Shadow. We're in, but where do we go now?" I asked confused.

"You're not going anywhere, scum! Don't worry ma'am. We'll save you from these two heathens!"

We turned around to see three Mobian foxes. They wore black and green uniforms much like the color of the ship. They were all bearing some sort of gun though what it was exactly, I knew not.

"If you think I need rescuing from Sonic then you need to increase the oxygen levels in your ship!" Amy yelled as she charged toward them, but Shadow and I held her back.

"Commander, these three are not members of the Gaelturi. They were aboard that large primitive vessel that warped into the battle some time ago." One of the foxes said nervously.

"You're right. What are your names?" He asked, though he did not withdraw his weapon.

"I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm a hero with a need for speed, and Amy here is my girlfriend." I said proudly.

"She is not yours. You are hers, Sonic. You claim to be a hero, but I've never heard of you. And I would stop being so cocky or else you'll both be even more black and blue than you already are now." He threatened us.

"My name is Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog. I'm the world's ultimate life form." Shadow said as he stepped in front of me.

The fox dropped his weapon and stepped away from Shadow.

"It can't be! _You_ are Shadow the Hedgehog? Please, I must take you to see the Admiral." He said sternly.

"Fine. I want to have a word with him." Shadow said smiling.

They all looked at each other and motioned for us to follow. We walked over to an elevator that shot us up to the bridge. The door opened and I stepped forward, but one of the foxes grabbed me.

"What archaic world do you hail from? Let the girl go first." He said in shock.

I looked over at Shadow and he shrugged his shoulders in confusion. Amy walked onto the bridge and the officers all stood and bowed to her before sitting back down. To our surprise, everyone on the bridge was also a fox which caused me to speculate who these people really were since they were several races of Mobians on the other ship that I saw earlier. We stepped on to the bridge and were immediately regarded with much suspicion by the foxes. Shadow stepped toward the captain's chair, but one of our captors cut him off and kneeled to the ground.

"My Lady, I do not mean to interrupt, but we have found him at last. He was aboard the vessel that just warped into the battle." He said nervously, to the point that he was actually beginning to shake.

The chair swung around and we were surprised to see a female fox staring back at us. Shadow and I looked at each other and smiled.

"Were we both thinking the same thing?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah, foxy." Shadow laughed.

I elbowed him in the shoulder and Amy grabbed my hand.

"Don't get any ideas, Sonic!" Amy whispered harshly.

"What? Oh, right." I laughed.

The fox who was apparently their admiral stood up and walked over to us. She looked around twenty years of age. She was quite tall, being a few inches taller than me. She wore a black uniform similar to the ones worn by the others, a leather skirt, and black leather boots. Her fur was brown and she had black hair. You may be wondering how I could remember all of this. Well, just know that it wasn't difficult.

She jumped up and straightened her tail.

"My, my, you must be Shadow. I must say that you're nothing like I expected." She laughed as she walked toward Shadow.

"And you're nothing like I expected. You were a man in my vision..." Shadow muttered in confusion.

"It's funny how things work out like that. Well, Shadow, it certainly is a pleasure to meet you at last, and to think that you came right into my arms. I am quite a lucky girl. My name is Amanda by the way." She said as she fixed her hair.

"The pleasure is mutual. My name is Shadow... Wait, you already knew that..."

"Oh, give me a break!" Amy sighed.

Amanda laughed at his embarrassment.

"I'm sure that you have many questions, Shadow. Why don't you come to my quarters where we can talk." She said as she grabbed his hand.

"Thank you, but I'm fine right here." Shadow laughed.

I could tell that this Amanda was not accustomed to people disobeying her. She clenched Shadow's hand, but maintained her emotions.

"Suit yourself. Miles, bring seats for our guests." Amanda sighed.

"Miles! Hey I have a friend who's name is Miles! He's a fox too." I said happily.

"Really? That is most interesting." Amanda said as she looked out the observation window at the Ark.

"Yeah, he's been a huge help to us all. It was actually thanks to him that we even got here. He's a genius, especially for his age." I said as I sat down in the chair that was brought for me.

"Of course he's a genius! I would have expected no less from a member of our superior race." Amanda laughed being quite amused.

She sat down in the captain's chair and folded her tail over her lap.

"Don't you have a battle to get to? A fighter could come crashing through that window any moment and you wouldn't be able to move out of the way!" Amy said pleasantly.

"I understand your anxiety. It takes a woman to lead, but these men are smart. They can handle it... They better. But forget about them. Go ahead and ask your questions. I'm sure that you have plenty." Amanda said as she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I have a question. What the heck is going on here?" Amy yelled as she jumped up from her chair.

"Whoa! Calm down, cutie. Though, I understand your confusion. I know that you all aren't from this dimension since you came here with Shadow, and I have a primary source that Shadow is not from this dimension. I will explain it in terms that you hedgehogs can comprehend. You have entered a dimension that is far removed from your reality. In this dimension, we foxes have acquired vast technologies that yours would not see for several generations. We began to colonize planets across the galaxy. We formed a vast empire and unified it under one rule: The Matriarchy. However, a foolish man by the name of Gael decided that men, in particular men who weren't foxes, deserved to be treated with more dignity and respect. And so he stole our technology and formed the Gaelturi. It is a shame that his legacy had to impede the growth of the Matriarchy. Even some foxes joined with him. I take no pleasure in their deaths, and there have been many. We have been fighting each other since before I was born." Amanda explained.

"Gee! That must have been a long time ago!" Amy said with mock cheer.

"Indeed it was. I am older than I appear." Amanda said as she stroked her tail.

"I have a question. Why are you so interested in Shadow?" I asked inquisitively.

"Oh, where to begin? He's very handsome and strong. That scowl of his could win any girl." She laughed.

"No, I mean, before you met him? As soon as Shadow told those men who he was they started going mad, and they talked as if they had been expecting him to come here. How did you all even know of Shadow's existence when he was in a different dimension?" I asked, getting impatient.

"I'm afraid that that is something Shadow must hear without an audience." Amanda said as she winked at Shadow.

"I have a question. Are you certain that you aren't a man?" Shadow asked confused.

I stared at Shadow and struggled to hold back my laughter. The officers behind Amanda began to laugh as well, but she glared at them and they were silenced.

"Well, Shadow, to answer your question, I believe that it is quite apparent that I am a woman. Do you have any other foolish questions that you would like to get out of the way before we start having an adult conversation?" Amanda asked as she gripped the arms of her chair.

"Two actually. Do you know a girl named Maria Robotnik, and are you one hundred percent certain that you are not or ever have been, in fact, a man?" Shadow asked inquisitively.

"Shadow, listen carefully. I never have been nor shall I ever be a disgusting man. As for your other question, I'm afraid that I'm not at liberty to answer it. That is all I have freedom to say. It is highly confidential. I'm on thin ice just by mentioning it to you. I'm sorry, Shadow. I know your past and the pain that you suffered, but I can say no more. Anything else?" Amanda said sadly.

"I swear to you that there was a man commanding this exact ship in my vision, and Maria was here as well only she was different..." Shadow murmured.

"Really? What was this man's name that was in command of my vessel?" Amanda asked, almost laughing.

"I'm not sure if I heard it correctly. Maria mentioned it once. He was... He was torturing her. I was hoping to meet him here, as you can imagine. He was a hedgehog actually. I believe that his name was Alfred Nightbaron." Shadow said as he struggled to remember the events of his vision.

I could feel the tension of the room rise greatly when Shadow mentioned his name. The officers ignored their stations and gazed at Shadow with both fear and amazement. Amanda stared at Shadow, her eyes quivering with rage until they were overwhelmed with tears.

"Get out! Get off of my ship and leave the system before I blow that giant relic away! I never want to see you again, Shadow the Hedgehog, and if I do, let's just say that you'll finally be joined with Maria!" Amanda yelled as she jumped up from her chair.

Shadow looked at me and smiled, though I didn't understand how he could possibly smile now that he had just ruined our chances of remaining neutral in this conflict. Then, I realized that Amanda's reaction must have given Shadow some answers about his vision. I nodded and he disappeared.

"You two should leave as well, but be wary of Shadow. If that vision of his consisted of what I think it did then he's going to betray you all in order to fulfill his mad desires. It is only a matter of time. I would choose a side quick, but as long as Shadow is with you it won't matter who you side with. He will bring your doom." Amanda said as she hung her head in sorrow. She turned her chair around to face the battle, though it was obvious that she had an even greater battle going on inside of her.

I took Amy's hand and ran to the elevator but she pulled herself away from me.

"Wait a second." Amy whispered to me.

I nodded and she ran over to Amanda. I couldn't hear what they said to each other, nor would I ever know. Amy ran back to me and I stared at her in confusion.

"What was that all about?" I asked puzzled.

"You wouldn't understand. It was girl stuff." Amy said as she rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Let's get out of here." I laughed.

We went down the elevator as fast as we could. Unfortunately we neither knew what floor we were on nor what floor the breach Shadow made was on so we pushed every button in order to find it. After several minutes we found the breach and carefully journeyed back to the Ark though it had seemed that the heat of the battle was over now. The Gaelturi had lost.

Once we were finally back on the Ark we were welcomed by Knuckles.

"It's about time you got here. I thought that you were supposed to be fast, Sonic?" Knuckles laughed.

"He certainly was fast at pushing all of those buttons on the elevator..." Amy grumbled.

"Knuckles, where's Shadow?" I asked sternly.

"Everyone ran off to the control room. I had to stay back here and wait for you." Knuckles complained.

"Why did Shadow go there?" Amy asked confused.

Tails' voice suddenly came on the comm. system.

"Knuckles, this is Tails! You've got to get up to the control room quick and help us stop Shadow! He's going to fire the Eclipse Cannon at that ship while Sonic and Amy are still on it!" Tails yelled urgently.

"Oh, it's fine, Tails. Sonic and Amy are right here. He can blow it up if he wants." Knuckles said nonchalantly.

"No he can't!" Amy and I yelled.

Before we could do anything, the Eclipse cannon had fired. We watched as the laser tore through Amanda's ship causing it to plunge down into the rest of her fleet, crashing into several other frigates until it finally exploded in a flash of super hot white light. Once it had faded there was nothing left. The Gaelturi were beginning to rally now as the Matriarch fleet was thrown into a panic without their leader. The Gaelturi destroyed the remainder of her fleet and space had become silent again.

I noticed that Amy was beginning to cry and I put my arm around her.

"Shadow... how could he do this? She was right, Sonic." Amy cried into my shoulder.

"Well, I guess that determines who we're going to side with. Let's just hope that we won't regret it." Knuckles sighed as he left the hanger.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	4. Chapter 4 (Sonic)

Chapter 4 Separate Ways

Amy leaned her head against my chest and began to cry. I sighed and embraced her tightly.

"Why Sonic? Why would he do this?" Amy cried.

I shook my head and looked over at Knuckles.

"Tell Shadow and the others to get in here and explain this, now!" I said angrily.

He frowned and stared at us for a long while before leaving the hanger. Knuckles quickly returned with Tails and Silver.

"Sonic! You're all right!" Tails sighed in relief.

"Where's Shadow, Tails?" Amy asked impatiently as she wiped away her tears.

"He'll be here in a minute. He was arguing with Rouge. Sonic, you aren't going to believe this! Shadow says that Maria is alive and somehow came to this dimension!" Tails said excitedly.

"So what? That doesn't explain why he killed all of those people!" Amy yelled.

"I know, Amy. I think that Shadow's gone insane. He said that in his vision, those Mobians had imprisoned Maria and were torturing her. He doesn't know what they did with her though. I'm not sure what we're going to do about this Sonic. We're here to look for Blaze any way. I wasn't expecting this." Tails explained.

"Tails, the Gaelturi flagship is trying to establish communications with us." Silver said nervously.

"Put it through to the computer on the observation deck." Tails said as he ran out of the hanger.

"Let's go, Amy. We all need to hear this." I said sternly.

We followed Tails to the observation deck. There was a large vessel, similar in design to the ship we were just on, but it was read and yellow instead of black and green. An image began to form on the monitor. It was that of a gray hedgehog wearing a red uniform. Amy yelped and grabbed my hand. Half of the hedgehog's face was covered in burns, apparently caused by an explosion. He smiled at us, bearing his fang.

"My name is Gael, founder and minister of the Gaelturi. Your disposal of that Matriarch fleet was most impressive. It would be within your best interest to all me aboard your fine vessel so that we may discuss our plans to put an end to the Matriarchy once and for all." Gael said, not removing his gaze from Tails.

"Um... Sure, but you sort of blasted our hanger door. There's no way that we can open it for you." Tails said warily.

"That is of no consequence. I shall beam aboard your vessel momentarily. Though, I am that aware of a hedgehog named Shadow is there among you. Make sure that he is not present at our meeting." Gael said threateningly.

"No way! We're either all in or we're all out!" Tails said as he crossed his arms.

"Do not test my patience, fox! You've already made enemies in this galaxy. It would be wise of you to make as many friends as possible. The Matriarchy is a powerful empire. They will be back and you will not survive without us." Gael said angrily.

Tails did not speak and looked down at his shoes.

"I am beaming aboard your vessel now. Do not fear. We share a common enemy. My only goal is to liberate planets from their tyrannical rule." He said smiling.

The computer shut down and the room was silent.

"Something's not right here, Sonic. Amanda told us that Gael had rebelled against them years ago. How is he still alive? He looked barely older than you." Amy asked in confusion.

"I don't know, Amy, but I guess we're about to find out." I said quietly.

There was a flash of bright light and Gael appeared before us in the observation room. He looked around at all of us and smiled.

"What a quaint vessel you have. It is astounding that it contains such firepower. However, I will assign a mechanic later to upgrade your ship with the finest technology we have available to us. I'm afraid that even our technology cannot compare that of the Matriarchy. Foxes are more inventive than we hedgehogs. They have made rapid advancements in the past five years." Gael said as he walked about the room observing the Ark.

"Wait. Your war has only lasted five years?" I asked confused.

"Yes it has. Why would you think otherwise?" He asked inquisitively.

"We spoke with the admiral of that Matriarch fleet. She talked as if this war had been going on for decades and you had been long dead." Amy explained.

"She wished that I were dead. Foxes are sly and mischievous. They are not to be trusted, especially the females." Gael laughed.

"But you have foxes working for the Gaelturi. I saw them."

"They are resourceful in terms of science and engineering. I'm sure that you have discovered this from your friend." Gael said smiling.

Tails looked at me as if he wanted to kill him. Shadow then came running into the observation room followed by Rouge.

"Ah! Shadow the Hedgehog! So this is the one who has caused all of our problems." Gael laughed.

"Sonic, who is this person and what is he doing on the Ark?" Shadow asked hastily.

"I am Gael, founder and minister of the Gaelturi. We were just negotiating terms for an alliance." He said smiling.

"Good. the sooner we destroy the Matriarchy, the better. They will pay for what they did to Maria." Shadow growled.

"Here we go again." Rouge sighed.

"I am delighted to hear that Shadow. I suppose that you would like to know what happened to your friend, Maria. After all, she is the reason that this war began and we knew that it would not end until you arrived." Gael said, apparently very pleased.

"You know about Maria? Please, tell me!" Shadow said desperately.

"Around five years ago, an associate of mine named Alfred Nightbaron found your friend and brought her to our council. During this time, we were one empire and there had never been a thought of conflict. Though, when Maria came to us speaking of another galaxy outside of our own, we began to grow suspicious of her people. We thought that we could be in danger of war with them. I told the other members of the council that this girl could bring us no harm, but they would not listen to me. The other members of the council believed that she was a spy for the humans and they locked her away in order to prevent her from having any outside contact. We had managed to keep Maria a secret for quite a while, but we knew that rumors would escape concerning a knew race known as humans. We did not want our people to find out that there were others in the galaxy besides us. Nightbaron was assigned with finding a way to turn Maria into a Mobian in order to hide the truth of who she really was. He succeeded... to a degree." Gael explained.

"What do you mean to a degree? What did he do to her?" Shadow asked outraged.

Gael smiled at him and continued.

"The women of the council were stunned by what Nightbaron had accomplished. It was quite a genetic feat though they were too blind to recognize it. They led an uprising and freed Maria. They told everyone about what we had done to her and how she had originally been a human. Many of our people were appalled by our actions and joined them in forming the Matriarchy." Gael said clenching his fists.

"I'm not helping you until you tell me the truth about what really happened to Maria." Shadow said as he walked toward Gael.

"That _is_ the truth, my friend. There is nothing else for me to say. It is likely that she herself became a Matriarch, but we do not know. Are you going to join us Shadow? It would be wise." Gael said, holding out his hand to Shadow.

"What have I done? Those women of the Matriarchy were trying to help Maria not harm her. Amanda could have told me where she is but I killed her. Now I may never see Maria again." Shadow murmured to himself.

Rouge placed her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"I'm not going to help you not after what you did to Maria. If the women of the Matriarchy can forgive then I will help them stop you! If not then I'll stop you on my own. In the mean time, I'm going to find this Nightbaron and see to it that Maria is avenged." Shadow said as he began to leave the room.

"It is a pity that you cannot be made to see reason, Shadow. You will not be able to find Nightbaron. He went into hiding long ago. It would take a true agent of deception to find him." Gael laughed.

Shadow looked at Rouge and smiled. She winked at Shadow and left the room with him.

"Do not be discouraged by your friend. Join us and we will end this needless suffering once and for all." Gael said smiling.

I looked back at everyone. No one showed any signs of approval in Gael, especially Amy.

"We'll help you out... for now, but I think that you're more deceptive than any fox of the Matriarchy." I said as I crossed my arms.

"The Matriarchy are nothing but a rebellion that threatens the peace and prosperity of the galaxy. I take no pleasure in this war, Sonic the Hedgehog, but I must fight in order to unite my people once again. Farewell, my friends. I will send for a shuttle to transport you all to my capital planet, Tarthrond V. We will discuss your first assignment there." Gael said frowning before he disappeared in a flash of white light.

"I don't know about this, Sonic... Should we really trust him?" Silver asked.

"I don't want to anymore than you do, Silver, but we have no choice. We can't afford to have two enemies at once. We have to help them, for now at least." I sighed.

"I say we let them tech out the Ark and get out so we can start finding Blaze on our own. This is just going to slow us down, Sonic." Knuckles complained.

"Are you kidding, Sonic? We need to help the Matriarchy! They're the ones being oppressed! I'm not going to fight my own people, Sonic!" Tails yelled angrily.

"Calm down, Tails. You don't have to come. I wish we could help them out too, but Shadow eliminated that option for us." I said sadly.

"We'll see if he did or not, Sonic." Tails said as he rolled his eyes.

I nodded and smiled at him.

"It'll be all right, buddy." I said happily.

We returned to the hanger where a shuttle was preparing to enter the gap in the hanger door.

"Wait, guys! What about Shadow and Rouge?" Amy asked nervously.

"They'll be fine, Amy. They have their own job to do right now." I laughed.

"Should we really leave the Ark all alone like this? It could get stolen." Tails asked warily.

"I'll stay behind. I doubt you'll be looking for Blaze if your working for the Gaelturi." Silver laughed.

"You never know what you could miss Silver, but if you don't mind then it's fine with me." I said as I shrugged my shoulders.

"No, if what Gael said about Maria coming to this dimension was true then I know where to start looking for Blaze. Just be careful out there. We have no idea what Gael will have you all doing." Silver said with assurance.

I nodded at Silver and gave him a thumbs up.

"Good luck, Silver. It's too bad. I was looking forward to working together again." I sighed.

"Me too, Sonic. Hopefully we'll all meet back here soon." Silver said sadly.

He then left the hanger. Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and I boarded the shuttle. It was piloted by a hedgehog who seemed to have little experience. Tails had to help him get the shuttle out of the hanger and then continued to criticize his technique all the way to Gael flagship. When we had finally arrived Tails threw the door open and jumped out. We followed him out of the hanger. To my surprise, Tails made no comment about the ship as we walked through it. Though it was similar to Amanda's ship, even I was impressed with the technology that it boasted.

"Don't you think that this stuff is cool, Tails?" I asked, trying to cheer him up.

"What? This ship? I'm not impressed." Tails laughed.

We met another hedgehog who guided us to the bridge. There we met Gael once again, and he was no more pleasant to speak with than he was earlier.

"I am relieved to see that you all made it, though it seems you are one short. Where is the one with the... interesting hair style?" Gael asked concerned.

"He's not coming. He has his own business to take care of, and his name is Silver." I said frowning.

"That is unfortunate. It is a pity that he will not receive the privilege to see a _real_ battle station." Gael said proudly.

"Do you even understand how any parts of this ship function? Or did you just have us foxes make it for you so that you could take all the glory?" Tails asked angrily.

Gael stared down at Tails angrily.

"This is my ship, boy, and as long as you are on board you are to respect me. Do you understand?" He said harshly.

Tails did not respond.

"I have had your quarters prepared on deck twelve. You may rest there until we reach Tarthrond V. You'll need it." Gael said smiling.

I thanked him and we left. I noticed that Tails was studying the ship very closely now.

"What are you doing, Tails?" Knuckles asked laughing.

"I'm studying his ship so I can find the most effective way to sabotage it." Tails said as we walked out of the elevator.

We all laughed and I patted Tails on the back. We entered our room. It had two sets of bunks. Knuckles immediately lied down and went to sleep. Tails ran over to a computer that was set up on a desk.

"What are you doing now, Tails?" I asked.

"I'm hacking into the ship's systems." Tails said casually.

"All right. Don't get us into any trouble." I laughed.

I sat down on the edge of one of the beds and yawned. Amy walked over to me and smiled.

"Do you mind if I sleep with you, Sonic?" She asked blushing.

"Huh? Oh, no. Go ahead, Amy." I said sleepily.

She turned the light off and we went to sleep together. When I had woken up I found that my nose was touching Amy's. She smiled and put her arms around my neck.

"What the heck are you two doing?" Knuckles yelled as he jumped out of his bed.

Amy and I blushed and laughed. I got out of bed and looked out the small port window to see that the ship had landed on a planet that resembled Earth. I looked over at Tails who was still bent over the computer. He showed no signs of weariness.

"Are you all right Tails?" I asked worried.

"Okay, guys. We have to get off of this ship. All of its systems are going to lock down in ten minutes." Tails said smiling.

We followed him out of the ship. I was amazed at how much this world reminded me of Mobius. Everything was green and beautiful. Even the Gaelturi's base was built into a giant tree. The world was so alive and free. I wondered if the Matriarch worlds were like this.

We met Gael at the foot of their base.

"Welcome to Tarthrond V. Come with me to my quarters and you will receive your first assignment." Gael said proudly.

"Of course." I said nodding.

We followed into their base. To my sadness, it was modern on the inside, and the tree appearance outside was merely for aesthetics.

"Sonic, I have to tell you about something I found last night." Tails whispered to me.

"What is it, Tails?" I asked urgently, trying to keep my distance between Gael so that he would not hear us.

He looked back at me suspiciously but said nothing.

"He lied about Maria. According to the records on that ship, Nightbaron didn't succeed in turning Maria into a Mobian. She's still a human and the Gaelturi still have her locked up somewhere, but I couldn't find out where. It wasn't in the records. I think that Gael was trying to get Shadow to go after Nightbaron. At least, that's what I thought until I read another record that said Nightbaron had died in an accident three years ago. It said that he had vaporized himself. Gael is luring Shadow and Rouge into a trap. He has to be." Tails explained.

"But if Nightbaron didn't turn Maria into a Mobian, then why was the Matriarchy formed and why did they go to war with the Gaelturi? Even if had still been over Maria's poor treatment, wouldn't they have freed her any way?" I asked confused.

"Beats me, Sonic. I'm having a tough time deciding who are the good guys or girls in this war." Tails sighed.

Gael led us into his quarters. There was a large holographic projection table in the center. He directed us to it and took a seat behind his desk.

"We have recently received information from our intelligence agency that the Matriarchy is developing a weapon that they believe will bring about the end of the Gaelturi. We tried to get more information about this weapon, but apparently one of the Matriarchs had split the data into different sections. I sent spies across the galaxy to find the locations of the parts of this data. We recently found one inside a compound on a planet that lies on the rim of known space. The planet is so remote that it was never given a name. It is the perfect hiding place." Gael explained as he brought up a holographic image of the planet. It was barren with little signs of life.

"Sounds simple enough." I said smiling.

"Ah, if only it were so. Unfortunately, the Matriarchy have blockaded the planet. That is why we need you to take a small vessel and sneak through and retrieve the data from the compound. It is likely that it will be heavily defended as well." Gael said frowning.

"All right! Finally, some action!" Knuckles said as he pounded his fist into his glove.

"That isn't the hard part, my echidna friend. Getting off the planet will prove to be much more difficult than getting on as the blockade will be alerted to your presence. That is why I am sending a fleet to intercept them, giving you time to escape with the data. However, you must signal the fleet commander when the data is retrieved do you understand?" Gael asked sternly.

"Of course." Tails said smiling.

"Good. We stole a Matriarch fighter for you to use. If they stop you then lie to them. I trust that that is within your capabilities, fox." Gael said smiling.

Tails nodded.

"Good. I will take you to the hanger where you can learn to fly the ship. I know that you won't be able to understand such advance technology as ours, but I'm sure that-"

"Listen, mister! You can talk down to me because of my age or because I'm a fox, but when it comes to my piloting I don't want to hear it from someone like you whose engineering skills don't go beyond the use of a coffee maker!" Tails yelled as he jumped out of his seat.

Gael stood up and glared down at Tails.

"Boy, I have thousands of pilots that I could choose for this mission-"

"No you don't! No one can do this but Tails, and you know that! And for your information, Tails stayed up all night studying your _advanced_ technology!" Amy yelled as she jumped up onto Gael's desk and stared into his eyes.

Gael laughed and sat back down.

"You are all very bold. That is good. You will need it during this war. You are dismissed. You will find the hanger on the fifth level of our base. Good luck." Gael said smiling.

We all left, wanting more than anything to get off of this planet. We found the ship in the hanger Gael had indicated. It quite large for a fighter and we were all able to seat ourselves comfortably. Tails opened the hanger door and got into the cockpit. He checked the ship's ID signature to make sure that it really was a Matriarch ship and began to prepare it for flight.

"Don't worry guys. This thing flies just like the Gaelturi ships that I studied last night. We'll be on that planet in no time." Tails assured us.

"I wasn't worried, Tails! You've got this, buddy!" I said happily.

"Thanks, Sonic." Tails said blushing.

I sat down next to Amy and we flew off. Once we had left the atmosphere, Tails put in the coordinates of the planet and somehow caused the ship to warp to the other side of the galaxy within a few seconds. I had no idea how he had done it but I didn't question him mostly because I knew that it would do little to help me understand it.

As Gael had warned us, there was indeed a blockade surrounding the planet. Tails approached it and the fighter's communications channel immediately went off. Tails answered it and a female fox appeared on the view screen. We quickly hid ourselves to prevent from being seen.

"This is the Huntress calling starship M-278. What is your clearance code?" She asked sternly.

"This is starship M-278 responding to the Huntress. Clearance code is 8675309, and might I say that you look lovely today, my Lady." Tails said smiling.

She smiled at Tails and began to blush.

"Your code matches. You are clear for landing, but might I ask what such a sweet little boy like you is doing on such a far end of space? Sensors are detecting three other organics onboard your vessel." She asked politely.

"Prisoner escort, my Lady. I was informed that there was a demand for labor in this sector." Tails said as he began to fly closer to the blockade.

"Yes, I understand. You may proceed, and perhaps you could come up afterwards and have some tea? It's not everyday we get visitors out here on the edge of charted space, especially such sweet boys like you." The woman said quietly to Tails.

Knuckles and I looked at each other and struggled to contain our laughter.

"Sorry, my lady. I Can't do that. I have shifts all day." Tails said blushing.

"You're coming onboard to have some tea. That's an order!" She said sternly.

"Um... Yes, my Lady." Tails said nervously.

He closed the communications channel and flew hastily toward the planet.

"All right, Tails! You sure did outfox that fox!" I said laughing.

"Yeah, you got us through the blockade and you got a date!" Amy said happily.

"If Gael doesn't blow her up before we get off the surface that is." Knuckles said frowning.

"Oh Yeah..." Amy sighed.

Tails landed the ship outside of the compound. It was a large steel building surrounded by a wall and four towers.

"How are we going to get in, Tails?" I asked curiously.

"Just follow my lead." Tails said smiling.

Two foxes left the compound and ran toward our ship. Tails hopped out and flew down to meet them. They were both very confused by his second tail, so confused that they didn't notice that he wasn't wearing a uniform.

"I suppose you've come to escort my prisoners?" Tails asked politely.

"What? Oh, yes." They said, still gazing at his tails.

"Well we're right here, buddy!" Knuckles laughed as he jumped out and slammed them both into the ground, knocking them unconscious.

They alarm immediately began to sound within the compound.

"Knuckles, I told you to follow my lead!" Tails said angrily.

"Yeah, you were going to pretend that we were your prisoners and then release us once we got inside. Come on, Tails. That only works in movies." Knuckles laughed as he charged toward the wall.

He slammed his fist into it and was knocked back by an electric shock. Amy and I jumped out and helped him up.

"Ugh... Do I have to do everything?" Tails sighed as he jumped into the fighter.

He blasted the wall down with the laser and we ran into the compound where we were met by several male foxes all bearing some sort of energy sword that glowed with light. I had no idea what it was but I knew that it must hurt to get hit by one of them. Knuckles did not hesitate and charged forward. I ran through them and knocked them to the ground while Knuckles and Amy finished them off. Tails then entered the compound carrying his computer.

"Let's find that data, guys." He said smiling.

I nodded and we ran through the compound taking out any foxes that opposed us. We finally made it into the center room where we found a large vault. Amy smashed it open with her hammer to reveal a small disk. Tails grabbed it carefully and put it into his computer.

"What are you doing, Tails? We've got the disk now let's get out of here!" Knuckles said impatiently.

"I'm not going to steal from them, Knuckles." Tails said as he took the disk out and placed it back into the vault.

He then put an empty disk into his computer and placed the data on it as well. He took the disk out and handed it to Sonic.

"What does it look like, Tails? Is it a deadly weapon like Gael said?" Sonic asked inquisitively.

"Possibly. It looks like the composition of some sort of disease. I signaled the fleet from my computer. They should be here to pick you guys up any second." Tails said happily.

"What do you mean, Tails? You aren't coming with us?" I asked in shock.

"No, I'm not, Sonic. I told you that I'm not going to fight my own people. I'm going to join the Matriarchy." Tails said smiling.

"But Tails, you're a member of the team. We need you." I said frowning.

"Yeah, how are we going to get home without you?" Knuckles yelled angrily.

"I'm not going to abandon you guys. I just can't fight my own kin. Besides, we need to learn this situation from both sides and right now, I'm not a big fan of the Gaelturi's side, but I'll give this copy of the data so you guys won't get into trouble." Tails said as he folded his computer and backed away from us.

"Thanks, Tails. You're a true friend." I said smiling.

"Oh, how touching." A voice said from behind us.

We turned around to find the same woman who Tails had spoken with before he landed. She was leaning up against the wall staring at us, specifically Tails.

"I suppose that those are your friends up there coming to rescue you? Has Gael become so cowardly and wretched that he sends children to do his work?" She laughed.

"Listen. I don't want any trouble. Don't blame Tails for this. I was the one who got them all into this. Do whatever you want to me but leave my friends out of this." I said as I jumped in front of Tails.

"Sonic, no!" Amy yelled as she grabbed my hand.

"Don't worry. I'm proud of your friend. What did you say his name was? Tails? He is a very skilled and intelligent boy. He has much determination. I would be happy to let him join the Matriarchy. As for that data, I will let you decide what to do with it, but if you do put it in Gael's greedy hands, tell him that we women of the Matriarchy now see what a cruel and desperate man he has become." She said happily as she clasped Tails' shoulder.

"Thanks. We appreciate it, and Tails... be careful out there." I said smiling.

"Do worry, Sonic. You should be careful, yourself! And tell Gael that I'm coming after him." Tails laughed.

"I will, Tails. See ya later!" I said as I gave him a thumbs up.

I picked Amy up and ran out of the compound with her. Knuckles ran up to us and looked around.

"Where's our ride out of here? Gael left us! That liar!" Knuckles yelled.

"I wish, Knuckles, but it doesn't look like it." I said as I pointed to a Gaelturi ship that was preparing to land.

"Well, I guess we'll have to give him the data now." Knuckles sighed.

I nodded and jumped onto the ship with Amy. We left the planet and entered the battle that was going on outside the system. Once they were alerted to our rescue, the fleet warped back to Tarthrond V. We returned to Gael who seemed very pleased to see us. He reached out for the disk but I pulled it away.

"What are you going to do with this?" I asked curiously.

"Are you serious, Sonic? I don't even know what it is!" He said angrily.

"Enough of this, Gael. I want the truth!" I said impatiently.

"You'll get your truth soon enough." Gael said as he grabbed the disk out of my hand.

He called a hedgehog into his office and gave the disk to him.

"My Lord, should I take this to professor Nightbaron?" He asked.

Gael stared at him menacingly and the hedgehog ran out of the room.

"So you do know where Nightbaron is! What's going on here, Gael and what does it have to do with Shadow?" I yelled.

"It has nothing to do with Shadow, my friend. It is about Maria. This war has always been about her and soon it is going to end and the galaxy will be at peace." Gael laughed as he sat back down.

"Sorry, Gael, but your plan is falling apart as we speak! The Matriarchy just got a new pilot and he's coming after you! And I know that Shadow will stop whatever Nightbaron is planning to do with Maria!" I said proudly.

"We shall see how well placed your faith is with your friends. No, Sonic the Hedgehog, my plan is not falling apart. It is already moving into fruition. Within a few days this war will be over, and the galaxy will never be the same. It will be perfect." Gael said, satisfied with himself.

I took Amy's hand and left the room. We got a pilot to take us back to the Ark. It hadn't been violated, but Silver was gone.

"I hope he's all right." Amy sighed.

"I'm sure that he's with Blaze right now, Amy." I laughed.

She smiled and leaned her head on my shoulder.

"The stars are so beautiful aren't they, Sonic?" She sighed.

"Eh, not really... compared to you that is." I said as I rolled my eyes.

Amy laughed and threw her arms around my neck. I smiled and embraced her.

"Sonic, this adventure... It hasn't been exactly romantic in the way that I imagined, but it's been perfect because of you." She sighed.

"Oh, Amy, just kiss me!" I laughed.

She did, much harder than I was expecting and I almost fell over.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sonic." She said embarrassed.

I smiled and kissed her again.

"Oh, why did Tails have to leave? Now I'm gonna be the third wheel..." Knuckles complained.

We sat down together and Amy fell asleep against my chest. Knuckles walked over to me.

"So what happened with you and Amy? One day you can't stand her and the next your sleeping with her. I really don't understand it Sonic." Knuckles sighed.

"I can't really understand it myself, Knuckles. It was something with that Omega Point thing that we experienced. I just realized that I have to slow down sometimes in order to enjoy life. Amy was just one of those things I had to slow down for, I guess since she couldn't catch me. But once she caught me I didn't want to let go." I said as I stroked her back.

"Whatever you say, Sonic." Knuckles laughed as he shrugged his shoulders.

He then left the room and I stared down at Amy. She opened her eyes and smiled.

"Thanks, Sonic." She whispered.

I smiled back at her and stared out into space.

"What's wrong, Sonic?" She asked concerned.

"It's Tails. I'm worried about him." I sighed.

"Oh, he'll be fine, Sonic. There's no one in the universe that can fly a plane like him." Amy said laughing.

"No, it's not that, Amy. I know he'll be all right, but I'm worried that he isn't going to leave the Matriarchy. I'm afraid that he won't come back with us." I said sadly.

"What? Sonic, that's crazy! We're his friends he wouldn't leave us." Amy said in shock.

"I know, Amy, but he might find someone else that he sees as more than a friend, someone he can't leave behind, if you know what I mean..." I sighed.

"Oh... but Sonic he's only eight years old. He wouldn't do that would he?" Amy asked nervously.

"We'll see, Amy." I said as I stared out into space, wondering what my old friend was doing right now.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	5. Chapter 5 (Tails)

Chapter 5 A Love for Engineering

Hello! My name is Miles Prower though my friends call me Tails, as you probably already know. I guess Sonic forgot to mention this, but we're actually working together to write this story. We all decided that we had to write this story because our adventures in this galaxy were beyond anything that we had ever experienced. Sonic probably just got into such a rush that he forgot to mention it.

My story begins when I first join the Matriarchy after I left Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy. I knew that I would have to side with them eventually, not just because they were my kin, but because I wanted to learn everything I could about their advanced technology. I had hoped to stay out of the war as I didn't really want to fight any of the Gaelturi save Gael himself, but I was willing to serve the Matriarchy in whatever way I could. During our mission to retrieve the Matriarchy's data on their new weapon, I was recruited by my now current commander, Elizabeth. She had been very kind to me, especially after I had just given the Gaelturi knowledge of their new weapon. We had a brief cup of tea during which I explained to her who I was and where I was from.

"So you and your friends came from the same world as Maria. That is quite interesting. I wonder if their is some connection between your galaxy and ours, and you also came here in search of another one of your friends who traveled here some time ago. I have not heard of anyone else coming here besides Maria. If your friend is here then she must be keeping her presence a secret." Elizabeth said astonished.

"You're probably right, but one thing I still don't understand is how Maria got here and how is she still alive? That would have been over fifty years ago." I speculated.

"Time must pass ten times slower here than it does in your world. It has only been five years since Maria arrived, and I'm guessing that your other friend has only been here for a couple months at most. As for how Maria arrived here, your guess is as good as mine, but I know one thing. This war will not end until Maria is freed from the captivity of the Gaelturi and if your friend is also being held captive, we will see to it that she is freed as well. I can assure you that, Miles." She said proudly.

"Thank you, my Lady. We would appreciate any assistance that you could offer us." I said happily.

"In due time, my friend. First, I must take you to Vulpes, our home planet. There, you will receive your training and starship." Elizabeth said laughing.

I looked at her in confusion.

"Well, I would actually like to build my own ship if that's all right, my Lady?" I said timidly.

She turned around and stared at me in shock.

"I do not doubt your skills, Miles, but our technology is much different from yours. Are you certain that you are capable of this?" She asked sternly.

"Don't worry, my Lady! I'm a quick learner and your technology should just make it easier to build my ship. I've even already learned how to fly them!" I said excitedly.

"You really are serious about this aren't you? I'll give you permission to do so, Miles, but you must know that all of our vessels must pass strict regulations in flight performance and firepower." Elizabeth said in disbelief.

"I think you'll be surprised what I can build with all of this great technology, my Lady." I said smiling.

"I believe you, Miles. Men in our service do not usually share your optimism toward flight engineering. They just want to fly the ships not build them, but it seems that it is your passion. I am excited to see what you can come up with, Miles. It could be a scientific breakthrough." Elizabeth said as she clasped my shoulder.

I laughed and began to blush.

"Don't get too cocky, Miles. You are a man and so obviously you will need help with this task. I will assign a woman to help you who is experienced with our technology and can teach you how it is used." She said frowning.

"Oh... that's fine." I said quietly.

At first I was not excited to hear that someone would be helping me. I thought that this woman would simply hold me back and impede my work. Oh how wrong I was for this woman who was assigned to aid me would change my life forever.

We arrived on Vulpes within the hour. The planet was huge and sprawling with cities, though there was a belt along its equator that looked to be green and beautiful. Outside the planet were two large space stations that emitted a shield that spanned the planet's surface.

"That shield is to prevent orbital bombings," Elizabeth explained, "We'll have to dock at one of the stations and beam down to the surface from there."

"That's so cool! I mean, very impressive." I said embarrassed.

She laughed at me and continued toward the space station. Once the ship was docked, we entered the station which was crowded with foxes preparing their ships for takeoff. Many of them stared at me, probably because of my second tail. I heard one of them mumble, "Looks like he'll need a specially made uniform," and snicker to his friends.

"Don't mind them, Miles. They are men." Elizabeth sighed.

I nodded and we continued toward the transporter room. We were beamed down to the planet. I opened my eyes to find that we were in a large metal building where several others were constantly arriving on the surface. She took me to the air field where I met the commanding officer of the Matriarchy's entire galactic military. Her name was First Marshall Miranda Slyve.

"Be wary of your tongue, Miles when you speak with Miranda. Her oldest daughter's recent death has caused her much grief." Elizabeth sighed.

I immediately knew that the First Marshall's daughter had to have been Amanda. I realized that if she knew of my involvement with her death, my vocation with the Matriarchy would end before it even began. Of course, being the ignorant child I was, I did not understand how closely knit the Matriarchy was. Though, as to my understanding, the name Matriarchy was somewhat contradictive as there was no one matriarch who ruled. The Matriarchy was ruled by every woman in the entire empire. Any woman, no matter how experienced, had just as much authority as the next, though, they knew and revered each other's roles in their society. Every woman received equal respect from the youngest girl to highest ranking military officials such as Miranda. It seemed unorganized to me, but it in fact created a close network of trust and companionship that triumphed over the Gaelturi's hierarchy of society that stood upon selfishness and a lust for power. Of course, it took me many years to fully understand this. At the time, when I was meeting the First Marshall, the only thing that struck me was why the women of the Matriarchy still had children.

When I walked into the First Marshall's office, I was quickly overwhelmed with intimidation. The woman who stood before me instilled terror in a way I could not imagine. It was not a sense of fear in the way of pain or worry, but a fear of respect and reverence. I could tell that her position had obviously been well-earned. She was tall, much taller than I was at that time. Her fur was brown and she had black hair. Miranda looked to be in her mid thirties, but I guessed that she had to be older if she had a daughter who was an admiral.

She stared down at me for quite a while until Elizabeth nudged me forward.

"My Lady, my name is Miles Prower. I have come here to request-"

"I know your name well, Miles, but who you really are is yet to be seen. You hail from another galaxy, or so I've been told. You were aboard that space station that killed my daughter, however, I know that you were not the one who dealt the blow. You have nothing to fear, my friend. I am aware of why you have been brought before me. You wish to build your own craft for battle. I was briefed on your deception of Elizabeth and your flight expertise using our own craft. I see a bright future for you, Miles, but this will be no simple task. I have assigned one of our top engineers to help you with this. My younger daughter, Catharine Slyve, graduated from the Matriarch Academy of Science and Engineering when she was only eight years old. She has aided in the construction of several of our craft, even our larger frigates. You will follow her orders and treat her with the utmost respect. Do you understand me?" Miranda said, never removing her gaze from mine.

"Yes, I understand, my Lady." I said shakily.

"Good. See to it that you do not disobey me. She is waiting for you in hanger bay eleven. I would not keep her waiting. She was... excited to get to work with someone of your expertise." Miranda said sternly.

I nodded and bowed to her. She smiled at me and waved for us to leave. I hurried out of the room and Elizabeth ran to catch up with me.

"What's the rush, Miles?" She laughed.

"I have to get to hanger eleven! Catharine's waiting for me!" I said urgently.

"Miles, you don't know Catharine. I think you will find her to be more understanding than you would think." She said smiling.

I gave her a confused look and ran off. At the time I was unaware of it, but she was still following me. I found hanger eleven and was astounded at the work that they were doing. several vessels were being constructed from small fighters to massive frigates. I searched throughout the hanger for someone who looked like Miranda. After some time, I gave up and decided to ask a small girl who was sitting atop a steel beam while playing with her tail. She had rich brown fur and hair of raven black. Her eyes were as bright and blue as crystal clear water on a sunny day. She wore a black leather top with a leather jacket, a leather skirt and a pair of black boots, the standard Matriarch uniform for an unranked member. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, though being a mere child at the time, I was more focused on getting my ship built than socializing with the fierce women of the Matriarchy.

"Excuse me, ma'am. I'm looking for someone named Catharine Slyve." I said politely.

"Well, you certainly are a lucky boy! Cathy is so beautiful and smart! She'll be able to help you with anything you need!" She laughed happily.

"Great! Do you know where I could find her?" I asked excitedly.

"Sure do! She's right here!" The girl laughed as she jumped down in front of me.

"Really? I was expecting someone older..." I said embarrassed.

"You think _I'm_ too young to help you, mister fly through blockades, raid planets, break into military compounds, and steal top-secret government information? I think you and I both know that age is of no consequence when it comes to a fox's skill." Catharine said as she put her finger to my chest.

"Of course! I'm sorry, ma'am. I didn't mean to offend you. I was just surprised is all." I said embarrassed.

"No, it's fine. I'm always flattered when people are shocked to see that I'm doing an adult's work at such a young age. So, what's your name? My mother told me how cool you were but forgot to mention it." Catharine laughed as she began to blush.

"Oh, my name's Miles per hour. Uh... I mean, Miles Prower!" I said as I foolishly stumbled over my words.

"Miles, that's a nice name." She said smiling.

"Yeah, but my friends call me Tails." I said embarrassed.

"Tails? I hope they don't do that to mock you." She said confused.

"Oh, no, they respect me." I said laughing.

"Good. They better. After all, they wouldn't be here if it weren't for you." Catharine said satisfied.

"All right! So, where are we going to get the supplies for our ship?" I asked excitedly.

"Our ship? Miles, this is going to be your ship not mine." Catharine laughed.

"But we're building it together? It's just as much yours as it is mine." I said smiling.

"Okay. Then you better let me fly it when it's finished. Come on, Miles. I ordered the supplies. They're over at the right end of the hanger." Catharine said as she indicated in that direction.

"All right. See you there!" I said as I flew off.

I flew over to the right area of the hanger where I saw several crates stacked along the wall. I guessed that they were the supplies she had indicated. I landed on top of one of the crates and began to open it. I opened the first crate and found the parts needed for the engine. I grabbed a welding torch, though it looked more like a welding gun, and went to work. Catharine then ran over to me.

"You flew!" She said in awe.

"Oh, yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that." I laughed.

"How did you do that?" Catharine asked as she ran around behind me and inspected my tails.

"It's not that big of a deal, really. It's just how all flight works. You know, air pressure increases above and lowers below me so I can fly." I said embarrassed.

"But Miles, you can fly with your own physical strength when you're a fox! That's astounding!" Catharine said as she grabbed my tails.

I wanted more than anything for her to stop examining my backside so that I could work properly, but I knew that I had to respect Catharine and tried to ignore her. After a while, she realized that I was still trying to weld the engine valves to the reactor core and stopped playing with my tails, trying to discover how I rotated them without injuring myself.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miles! I was so fascinated with your tails that I forgot about the ship. Here, let me help you with that reactor core. There should be a gyro sphere somewhere in one of these crates. It goes in the core." Catharine said embarrassed.

I smiled at her and began searching through the crates.

"I found it, but it's in three pieces." I said as I handed her the metal rings and the ball.

"That's fine. I'll put them together." She said happily.

I continued searching through the crates and found a small metal box. I opened it to find a miniscule crystal shard not even a centimeter in length or width. I began to touch the crystal, but Catharine shut it tightly.

"Don't mess with that, Miles! It is the power source of our ship." She said sternly.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I wasn't sure what it was." I said as I placed the box back inside the crate.

"They are Zithonium crystals. They are what make warp travel possible. They contain immense power that never burns out. That's what gives all of our vessels their speed and fire power. Unfortunately, these crystals are very rare. That is why it is so small. One shard can power an entire fleet." Catharine explained.

"Wow! That's amazing! where are these crystals found?" I asked inquisitively.

"Trace amounts of them can be found throughout the galaxy, but if you want the really powerful ones then you have to go to Zithon. It is a planet that lies on the border of our empire and the Gaelturi's. We used to control it, but when you and your friends arrived, the Gaelturi gained its control. Strange..." She murmured.

"Yeah, weird." I said uneasily.

I watched as Catharine installed the finished gyro sphere into the core. However, I was not paying very close attention as I was more interested in discovering how to use these Zithonium crystals to power my dimensional warp drive back on the Ark.

"All right, Miles, I need the crystal now." She said pleasantly.

"What? Oh, of course." I sighed as I handed her the box.

Catharine used a pair of tweezers to insert the crystal into the sphere of the reactor's core. She closed the sphere and the rings began to rapidly spin around it. She closed the reactor and it began to hum lightly.

"Thanks, Miles! Now, let's get to work on the body." She said happily.

"Yeah, all right!" I said excitedly.

We opened the remainder of the crates and retrieved the parts for the chassis and wings. We worked together to carefully weld the parts around the engine.

"You must be a real genius to have graduated from the Matriarchy's academy at eight years old, ma'am. That's my age." I said impressed.

"Oh, I cheated my way through." Catharine said nonchalantly.

"Wait... What?" I asked confused.

"I'm just kidding, Miles," she laughed, "And you don't have to call me ma'am. It's good for formal occasions, but you can just call me Catharine or Cathy."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I have to respect you." I said as I held the wing up against the chassis for her to weld together.

"Did my mom tell you that? Don't listen to her. She just wants to baby me. She has all my life. Though, in all seriousness, you can call me ma'am if you want, and be a mindless zombie like the rest of the men around here. I want you to be my friend Miles, not my servant." Catharine said as she smiled at me.

"Well... All right, Cathy, but I'm not just going to ignore your mother." I said as I began to blush.

She smiled and continued welding.

"So, who is the Matriarch that we serve?" I asked, feeling inclined to know more about the empire that my people had formed.

"What do you mean, Miles? All of us are matriarchs. Even I could be considered one. We all just respect each other and treat them as if they were family. Though there are a few women who have more renown than others. My mother, for example. She is a brilliant tactician and she can relate to the rest of us. We all love her. Perhaps she could be considered our Matriarch, but it is not her title. Our close bonds with each other is what gives us the advantage over the greedy Gaelturi who only care for themselves." Catharine explained.

"Wow! That's really cool! I never thought that a government could function like a family. No wonder the Gaelturi wanted our help so badly." I laughed.

Catharine sighed and put down her welding tool.

"Miles, I'm really glad that you joined us, but please, promise me that you will be careful out there when you're fighting. We don't get many good boys like you." She said sadly.

"Don't worry, Cathy! With your skills, I know we can build a fighter that will be able to take anything Gael can throw at us." I said, trying to cheer her up.

She smiled and held my hand. I looked at her awkwardly, not knowing what to do or say. Eventually, she let go of my hand and continued working. We worked for many hours until we had finished the ship's body as well as the weapons. Now, all we had left was the cockpit and the wiring for the controls. Catharine sighed in relief and took off her jacket. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled at me. I looked at her, stunned at how beautiful she was.

"What is it, Miles?" She laughed.

"You're just... You're just... Uh..." I murmured, trying to find the words to say.

She began to blush and stared into my eyes.

"You're so bashful, Miles. It's really cute. Why don't we take a break? We've worked hard." She laughed.

I nodded and we sat down together against our plane. We stared out at the evening sky, though the planetary shield gave the world a rich blue color.

"Did you know Maria, Miles?" Catharine asked inquisitively.

"Oh, no. Fifty years passed in my world during the last five years that Maria has been here. I never knew her. None of us did except Shadow. He's looking for her right now, actually. When he does rescue Maria, will this war end?" I asked.

"It's difficult to say, Miles. Though, I do know that the galaxy will never again be unified. We will try to get a ceasefire after she is liberated, but I think that the only way to end this war is to take her back to your world." Catharine sighed.

"Oh, I understand." I said nodding.

Eventually she fell asleep against the hull of the plane. I decided to let her sleep and continue working alone. I opened the panel to the engine and was surprised to see that the wiring was configured in a way that wasted much of the reactor's energy. I wondered if all of the Matriarch's ships were wired in the same fashion. I redid the wiring so that all of the reactor's energy would be used by the engine. I could feel the air around me began to tense and crackle with energy. I quickly reattached the panel and began to work on attaching the cockpit. I welded the hinge onto the front of the hull and screwed the glass windshield into place. I then began to work on installing the seat and wiring the controls to the engine and wings.

Catharine suddenly woke up and jumped into the cockpit with me.

"Need some help?" She asked happily.

"Sure!" I laughed.

Catharine was a huge help with the wiring. It was obvious that she was a veteran when it came to engineering. Once she had finished, we got out and stared at our finished ship with much pride.

"It's kind of like our child that we raised together." Catharine said smiling.

"Yeah. You want to fly it?" I asked excitedly.

"No, it's yours, Miles, but I'll ride with you. We can share a seat." She laughed.

I nodded and took her hand. I flew into the cockpit and she sat down next to me. I buckled myself in and frowned when I realized that there was no restraint for her.

"It looks like I'll just have to hold on to you, Miles." She laughed.

Catharine wrapped her arms and tail around me which was quite distracting.

"All right, Miles. Just make sure that you don't fly too close to the planet's shield and try to stay out of the other air traffic." She said sternly.

"I will. Are you ready, Cathy?" I asked excitedly.

"Of course, Miles! Let's see how our baby flies!" Catharine said as she tightened her grip around me.

I grabbed the lever and we took off in a flash. I laughed in amazement at how fast our ship was flying. I couldn't believe that anything could go this fast and the maneuverability was outstanding. I looked over at Catharine. She had closed her eyes and was hiding her face in my shoulder. It was obvious that she wasn't used to flying this fast either. I could feel her heart beating rapidly and she was beginning to shudder.

"Miles, I can't believe it! What did you do?" She laughed happily.

"I just changed some of the wiring around in the engine. I didn't know that it would make us this fast!" I said in shock.

We circumnavigated the entire planet in about two hours and returned to the hanger. I made sure to slow down steadily in order to keep Catharine safe. Once we had got out of the plane, she hugged me tightly. I felt very awkward. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to hug her back, but I wanted to respect her as well. I thought about what her mother had told me, and I decided that it would actually be disrespectful not to hug her. I did so and she smiled at me.

"Miles, you did it! That was amazing! I've never felt a rush like that before in my life!" Catharine said as she struggled to breathe.

"All right, Cathy. Just calm down." I laughed.

She smiled and hugged me again.

"Miles, we need to keep this a secret so that the Gaelturi don't discover this as well." She said warily.

"Yes, of course." I said in agreement.

"All right. Let's go tell my mom that we've finished your ship!" Catharine said excitedly as she threw on her jacket.

We left the hanger and ran back to Miranda's office. She seemed surprised to see us so early.

"Mom, Miles and I finished the plane! It's awesome!" Catharine said excitedly.

"Really? Did you check everything, dear? Are you certain? Did you test fly it?" Miranda asked concerned.

"Oh we tested it all right!" Catharine laughed as she nudged my shoulder.

Miranda smiled and got up from her desk to reveal a black suit, pants, and a pair of boots.

"Here is your uniform, Miles. Wear it with pride. I am hereby releasing you to join Elizabeth's fleet. You will now give you service to her." Miranda said as she handed me the uniform. I took it and smiled at Catharine.

"Thank you, my Lady." I said and bowed.

We began to leave, but Catharine stopped me.

"Mom, wait! Could I join Miles and pilot his ship with him?" She asked.

Miranda stared at her in shock.

"Absolutely not!" I will not have you throwing yourself into the heat of battle! Not after..." Miranda abruptly stopped herself.

"Miles, could you step outside for a bit?" Catharine whispered to me.

I nodded and left the room. Of course, I did not hear the conversation that took place between Catharine and her mother, but she later told me. Catharine said that she had had a very special time with me while we were building our ship and she actually professed to liking me a great deal. To this Miranda reluctantly agreed, but I knew that she would never forgive me if I allowed anything to happen to her now only daughter. Catharine left the room and told me that she had persuaded her mother to allow her to join me. We were both very happy and ran to Elizabeth's office with all haste. She stood up when we entered and ran to hug me. This time, I didn't hug her back, seeing as Catharine was standing next to me and Elizabeth was in her early twenties.

"I knew I had made a great choice in hiring you, Miles! Oh, this is wonderful! I watched you both working on your ship. I was quite impressed, and I didn't know what to think when I saw that thing take of! I can see it now! Miles Prower becomes the hero of the Matriarchy! The ladies will be all over you, and those men who made fun of you will be calling you sir and Lord!" Elizabeth yelled as she walked around her office.

"Um... What's my first assignment?" I asked confused.

"Oh, nothing for now. Just get used to flying your ship and its weapon systems. maybe you could even personalize it. Just get ready for when the time comes that you're needed." Elizabeth said smiling.

"All right. I'll do that, my Lady. Catharine is also going to join me if that's okay." I said nervously.

"Oh, well, it looks like you don't have to be a hero to attract the ladies, Miles." Elizabeth whispered to me.

I blushed and laughed uneasily.

"Now, go on and get to work, Miles." Elizabeth said happily.

I nodded and held the door open for Catharine to leave before leaving myself. I put on my uniform. When Catharine saw me for the first time she gasped and hugged me tightly.

"Oh, you look absolutely adorable, Miles, and to think that I get to be with you all day! I must be the luckiest girl in the universe!" Catharine said happily.

I laughed and she took my hand. We walked to the hanger and stared at our ship.

"I guess it needs a name doesn't it?" Catharine said happily.

"Yeah, I guess so. How about The Chivalry?" I asked smiling.

Catharine stared at me and began to blush.

"It's... It's nice. I love it." Catharine murmured as she looked down at herself.

I laughed and smiled at her. She looked up at me and stared into my eyes.

"All right. Let's get to work! We need to make room for both of us in The Chivalry!" I said happily.

Catharine nodded and we went to work.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	6. Chapter 6 (Tails)

Chapter 6 The War Comes to an End

Catharine and I spent the next day working on the Chivalry together. I installed a second seat for her. She insisted on having it next to mine instead of behind it which was fine with me. Catharine had also built a small cabin in the main hull of the Chivalry with two bunks for us to sleep in. It was a kind gesture from her, but I only thought that it would make the Chivalry less efficient. We spent all of our time working and hardly conversed with anyone. It was a good day, a day of working on the Chivalry and spending time with Catharine. Her mother did not seem to regret her decision to allow Catharine to fly with me, though I suppose I was the one flying with her in terms of the Matriarchy. We stood inside our cabin together, admiring our work.

"You did a great job, Cathy! This place really feels cozy now." I laughed.

"Thanks, Miles." She sighed.

I noticed that Catharine had not been very happy today. She would smile from time to time, but I knew that she wasn't really happy.

"Is something wrong, Cathy?" I asked concerned.

"Oh, it's nothing, Miles. I was just thinking about my sister." She murmured.

I held her hand and she smiled at me.

"I'm really sorry about what happened, Cathy. I tried to stop him, but he was too strong." I sighed.

She looked at me confused.

"What are you talking about, Miles? What happened to Amanda? I was just worried about not hearing from her the past couple of days." Catharine said desperately.

"You mean, your mother never told you?" I gasped.

"No, she didn't. What happened to her? Please, Miles I've been so nervous!" She yelled as tears came to her eyes.

"Catharine, I'm sorry, but your sister is dead. Shadow destroyed her ship with our space station's weapon. We all tried to stop him, but it wasn't enough. I'm so sorry..." I murmured as tears formed in my eyes as well.

Catharine stared at me and shook her head in denial. She embraced me and sobbed into my shoulder. I really didn't know what to do besides comfort her in any way that I could. I hugged Catharine and gently stroked her back. Seeing as she was somewhat taller than me, it was as if I were her doll that she was seeking comfort from in her grief as a lonely child would. This made me feel very awkward and I was relieved to be with her in privacy. If any of the Matriarch officials had seen us, I'm sure that they would have had plenty to say.

"Why, Miles? Why didn't my mother tell me? Amanda was my only friend, Miles! She was the only person who would ever spend time with me! She... She was all that I had... but now I have you, right, Miles?" Catharine wept as she tried to cheer herself up. Obviously, it did little to help.

I didn't know what to say to her. I had no idea how relationships worked in the Matriarchy and we were both so young. It was all so unreal. Catharine was basically asking me if I loved her, but I was so young at the time and had a very small perception of love and what it was exactly. More than anything, I was afraid, afraid of what would happen to us if I went against her mother's will. I realized that her mother was just trying to protect her. Because Catharine had never mentioned her father, I guessed that something must of happened between her parents. Perhaps, it was even what caused the Matriarchy to treat men as second class, though I hadn't felt mistreated at all ever since I had joined them. If anything, Catharine made me feel like the most privileged man in the universe. So many thoughts were running through my head at once that I began to feel dizzy.

"Uh... Sure! I'm yours if you want me to be, Catharine." I said blushing.

She sighed and released me.

"Miles, you can't keep living under my mother's shadow forever. I understand how you feel though. We women can be pretty scary around here, but you do know that you can like me and still respect me, right?" Catharine said as she wiped away her tears.

"I know, Cathy, but she's really intimidating. I'm really sorry, Cathy. I wish that there was some way that I could bring your sister back. Shadow is so selfish. He took away the one person who meant everything to you and then ran off to look for the person who meant everything to him. The next time I see him, I'll give him a piece of my mind, I promise!" I said angrily as I clenched my fists.

She smiled and took my hand.

"Thank you, Miles, but it is fine. If Shadow had not killed my sister, then it is likely that I would have never met you." Catharine laughed.

I stared at her in shock.

"Thank you. Thank you, Catharine." I said as tears now came to my own eyes.

She knelt down and wiped the tears from my eyes. This time, I embraced her without any thought or hesitation. I felt Catharine's arms clasp tightly around me and I sighed. She laughed and smiled at me.

"Miles, we've had a rough day. Maybe it's time that we get some rest." Catharine said as she stood up.

"Yeah, we have. Do you want to sleep on the Chivalry? Maybe it would be nice, I mean, since we just finished it." I laughed.

"Of course, Miles. I wasn't going to leave you." She said happily.

"Thanks, Cathy." I said blushing.

I took off my uniform and jumped into the top bunk mostly because I could fly and I didn't want to force her to climb up onto it.

"Good night, Miles." Catharine said as she got into the lower bunk.

"Good night, Cathy." I said wearily.

I fell asleep, but was quickly awakened to the sound of an alarm sounding within the hanger.

I quickly arose and hit my head against the hull of the ship.

"Ugh..." I sighed.

Catharine jumped out of bed and ran to the cockpit. She open communications and we received a recorded message stating that the planet was under invasion!

"Miles! Hurry and get dressed! Gael is attacking Vulpes!" She yelled urgently.

I scrambled to put on my uniform and strapped myself into the pilot's seat. Catharine was already seated next to me. She placed her hand on my shoulder and looked into my eyes.

"Miles, you don't have to do this. I don't want to lose you too..." She whispered to me.

I said nothing but shook my head and took off out of the hanger. We blasted through the atmosphere, but had to stop in order to pass through one of the space stations. It was as Catharine had said. Gael's fleet was preparing to assault the two space stations that generated the planetary shield. Elizabeth's fleet, along with another fleet that I guessed was Miranda's were preparing to defend them. The ships clashed in a frenzy of white light and fiery explosions.

"Let's get in there, Cathy! I have a score to settle!" I said as we shot forward into the firefight.

We engaged the Gaelturi's fighters as light flashed all around us. I easily outmaneuvered them while Catharine fired the ship's crystal laser, blasting them into dust. It was obvious that the Chivalry was the fastest ship in this battle. Nothing could stop us as we soared toward Gael's flagship. Catharine fired directly at the bridge, but its shields were much too strong for us to penetrate. Gael immediately retaliated with a flurry of lasers and missiles. I quickly reacted to evade them.

"That was too close! Does his ship have some sort of shield generator that we could take out?" Catharine asked sternly.

"No, it doesn't. Believe me, Cathy. I know everything about that ship." I assured her.

We flew behind the ship in order to get another clear shot. We flew straight up and then dove the Chivalry toward the ships engine. Catharine fired several blasts at the main fuselage. Though it failed to penetrate the shield, it did ignite the fuel within the engine resulting in an explosion that ravaged the inside of the ship.

"All right! Nice shot, Cathy!" I laughed as I quickly turned to flew underneath the ship.

She blushed and smiled at me. I then looked up to see that Gael's ship was turning about-face from the planet.

"Miles, we're receiving a message. I'll put it through." Catharine said warily.

A face appeared on the view screen that made me wretch. It was that of Gael. He laughed at my reaction and smiled.

"It grieves me to see that you sold yourself into slavery with those heathen's, Miles. Though, I will admit that I am impressed with you skill, do not think that you have chosen wisely. No, you will regret your decision before this conflict comes to a close which shouldn't be long." Gael said with some sadness, though I wasn't going to fall for his deception again.

"Yeah, this war will end soon! Once you're in our custody and you tell us where you've been keeping Maria!" I yelled angrily.

He laughed and stared at me with his one good eye.

"You'll have to catch me first." He said and closed communications.

Gael's ship immediately warped out of the system. I hastily prepared to warp after him.

"Miles, what are you doing? We need to go back to Elizabeth. This is obviously a trap." Catharine said urgently.

"Trust me, Catharine. I know what I'm doing." I said as I smiled at her.

"Miles, look at me! As a woman, I claim authority over you and you are to report back to Elizabeth at once!" Catharine yelled as she jumped up from her seat.

I stared at her in shock and blinked several times.

"Yes... Yes, ma'am." I said quietly.

She nodded and returned to her seat. I quickly flew around and returned to Elizabeth's flagship. We ran to the bridge to meet her after we had docked in the hanger.

"That was brilliant, Miles! Now, go and wait in your ship until we are able to track down Gael. You did your part, my friend. Now it is time for us to make a counterstrike." Elizabeth said excitedly.

"Yes, my lady, but I can't take all of the credit." I said as I smiled at Catharine.

She blushed and looked away from me.

"Of course, Miles. Dismissed." She said laughing.

We returned to the Chivalry and I sat down in my chair without saying a word.

"Listen, Miles. I'm sorry that I yelled at you. I just didn't want you to do anything stupid and get yourself hurt." Catharine sighed.

"It's fine, Cathy. I knew that you were just thinking of me." I said sadly.

"Miles, come here please. I really am sorry." She said, almost begging me.

I stood up and walked toward her, mostly out of guilt. She began to hug me when the ship suddenly quaked, causing her to fall backwards, pulling me down with her. This was likely my most embarrassing moment with Catharine. We fell down onto the floor and I accidentally kissed her, but it wasn't merely a cute little kiss on the cheek. No, I had kissed her fully on her lips, and what made it worse was that she still had her arms around me, forbidding me to get up off of her. When she finally let go of me, I jumped to my feet and flew toward my chair. However, she grabbed me and pulled me down to the floor. I closed my eyes and waited for her to smack me or worse. She did nothing of course and I hesitantly opened my eyes. She said nothing but stared at me. My knees began to tremble and I burst out into a series of different tongues and mannerisms that made me look like a fool. It was obvious that she had no idea what I was saying, but at least it made her laugh.

"I'm so sorry, Catharine! I didn't want to kiss you! Uh... Well, I didn't mean to! It was an accident, I swear! Oh, please forgive me! I'll never do it again, I promise!"

There was a moment of awkwardness as she giggled pleasantly.

"Uh... Your moustache tickled." She laughed.

I calmed down and began to speak clearly, "Catharine, I'm so sorry. Oh, your mother's going to kill me!" I said in despair.

"It's fine, Miles. Don't worry. This will be our little secret." She said quietly.

"Oh, thank you, Cathy!" I sighed in relief.

"All right, Miles. Let's get to work. That vibration must mean that we've come out of warp." Catharine said and she resumed her serious tone.

"Oh, right!" I said embarrassed.

We ran to our seats and took off. It was indeed Gael's flagship. It looked to be seriously crippled as it floated in space, it's engine seriously damaged.

"Wow! It's amazing that we found Gael this quickly! His warp drive must have shut down before he could get very far." I said in shock.

"Um... Miles, it looks like he found us! I'm detecting something coming out of warp and it's pretty big!" Catharine said nervously.

Just as she had said, another ship warped into space, though _pretty big_ was quite an understatement. The ship was massive, at least three times the size of any ship we had. So large was it in mass that I actually had to fly away in order to escape its gravitational pull.

"What is that thing? It's design, it was made with such expertise compared to their other vessels. Could that be the secret weapon that we stole?" I gasped.

Catharine gave me a puzzled look, but she said nothing as the communications alarm began to sound. She ignored me and opened the channel. It was indeed Gael.

"Ugh... Not you again." I sighed.

"Not pleased to see me, Miles? I don't blame you. I wouldn't be very happy if I were in your situation either. It looks like I outfoxed you Matriarch elites! Did you actually think that I was still on my old flagship? Ha! I wouldn't step foot on that thing after you hacked into it. I know, you must really take us hedgehogs for fools. We'll see who's the fool soon enough. Though, I must thank you, Miles. If you hadn't won us that battle over Zithon, I would have never acquired enough power to fuel my new ship." Gael said quite amused.

"There's no way you built that ship! I saw all of your designs and none of them even came close to that!" I said angrily.

"Farewell, Miles. It grieves me that we must part like this. You would have been a great boon to the Gaelturi. It is a pity that you squandered your expertise on these weak, arrogant women. Though, I am a man of understanding. You may still join us yet." Gael said hopefully.

Catharine was about to close the channel, but I grabbed her hand.

"Wait. If I join you, will you promise not to hurt Catharine?" I sighed.

"Miles, what are you doing? Forget about me! We can't give up now!" Catharine said as tears formed in her eyes.

"How touching. She will not be harmed. You have my word as long as I have yours. If this is another one of your ploys, it will not be taken lightly, Miles Prower." Gael said warily.

"Would I play around if her life was on the line?" I said angrily.

"That would be the first thing that I would do; especially, if I were one of your kind. Dock at any hanger you wish, and don't worry about finding your way around this behemoth. I will come to you. Is that clear?" Gael said mischievously.

"Yes, I understand." I sighed.

"Splendid! See you then my conniving comrades." Gael said smiling.

He closed the channel and I resumed our coarse toward Gael's new flagship. Almost immediately, we received another communication. This time it was from Elizabeth.

"Miles, I trust that you know what you are doing?" She asked sternly.

"Not to worry, my Lady. This won't take long." I assured her.

"See to it that it does not. You are flying in a storm, Miles. Do not test how accurate the lightning can be." Elizabeth said with apparent disapproval.

She closed communications and we continued toward Gael's ship.

"Miles, I don't know what you're planning, but please be careful. Gael is very smart and even more stupid. It's difficult to say what he has planned." Catharine said nervously.

"Don't worry, Cathy. Just follow my lead. I already know a weakness in his ship that we can exploit." I said, trying to comfort her.

She sighed and reluctantly held her tongue. I smiled at her, but it did little to enthuse her.

"Miles, in case this plan doesn't work, I just want you to know that the past couple of days I've spent with you have been the some of the greatest days of my life." Catharine said happily.

"Don't worry, Cathy. There'll be plenty more of days like these! I know it." I laughed.

She nodded and smiled brightly. We landed in the first hanger day we found. I looked around the hanger suspiciously, and to my surprise, Gael had kept his word. No one had arrived to detain us as I had previously feared. Catharine and I left the Chivalry and ran out of the hanger, taking our steps softly as to prevent from being heard.

"What _is _your plan any way, Miles?" Catharine asked quietly as we ran down the corridor outside of the hanger.

"We just have to get to the reactor and then I'll reroute the crystal's power output to one part of the ship. This should cause the reactor to overload and disable the entire ship. Then Gael won't be able to escape and we can capture him." I explained.

"I understand. It's just like what you did to our ship, right?" Catharine said smiling.

"Yeah, but I'm expecting this ship to have a much larger crystal than ours. Overloading the reactor could destroy the entire ship. I really don't know, but I'm more concerned with how the Gaelturi managed to build this thing. I've seen all of their designs. This ship wasn't even mentioned in their records." I said suspiciously.

"Maybe they kept it secret, thinking that we would steal it from them?" Catharine suggested.

"Perhaps. I'm going to find out soon." I said with determination.

I was surprised to find that most of the corridors were empty, and if there were Gaelturi walking amongst the ship, we would easily conceal ourselves in the shadows, being quite small, and wait for them to pass us by. It seemed that Gael had not told anyone of our expected arrival as they were not on alert. Unfortunately, this was not completely true. Gael had of course warned them, but he specifically told them _not_ to heed us in order for his trap to work.

"Gael's ship is so large that he can't keep it protected from the inside." Catharine laughed.

"Indeed. He'll regret making that mistake." I said as I opened the door to the reactor chamber.

It was eerily quiet as the reactor hummed with intense vibrations. As I had predicted, the crystal was very large, though it was concealed behind a titanium cylinder that was at least a meter thick.

"All right, Miles. What now?" Catharine asked excitedly.

"We hack into their systems using the reactor's console." I said as I ran to the computer.

As I had thought, the ship's systems had no relation to those of Gael's previous ship. I quickly searched for the ship's data records and found that it had been constructed on a planet known as Carellium. I then searched for this planet's location and found that it wasn't even listed under the Gaelturi's control.

"Cathy, have you heard of this planet named Carellium? Apparently it was where this ship was built." I asked confused.

"I can't say that I have, Miles. I don't even think that that planet has been charted within the Matriarchy's records. I never learned about it at the Academy. Do you think that the Gaelturi have a hidden base there?" She asked inquisitively.

"I don't think so. The planet isn't listed as part of their empire, but it is so remote, I doubt that it could even support life. It's nothing but a big snowball floating in space. Despite this, I would be a fool to think that there was nothing there. Something has to be on that planet, whether it's the Gaelturi or someone else." I speculated.

I continued to hack into the ship's power systems and transferred all of the crystal's power to the engine. There was a large explosion and the ship trembled violently. The reactor then began to crack and fall apart.

"Miles, you did it! Now, let's get out of here before-"

I have trouble recalling the next moments that proceeded. I remember seeing Gael appear out of the darkness as I peered over Catharine's shoulder. I quickly flew in front of Catharine as Gael fired a beam of light from his weapon that slammed into my chest. I fell backwards but Catharine grabbed me and held me close to her bosom.

"Miles? Miles!" She cried desperately.

Gael laughed and walked toward us.

"How ironic. This is the reward you receive for your gallantry, Miles! I once thought as you did, my friend. There was a time when I respected women and gave them my honor, out of some blind sense that they deserved my protection. My fate was similar to yours. The only difference was that I survived to learn from it. Unfortunately, you will not." Gael said with much satisfaction.

"Don't listen to him, Miles! You'll... You'll be fine! I promise!" Catharine said as tears streamed down her face.

I wanted to speak to her, but I could not find the strength as a shadow took me and I fell into darkness, leaving Catharine to weep in her lonesome. I have no recollection of what followed though Catharine told me of these events so that I could right them here. She cried over me for quite some time. Gael made no attempt to harm her as well, but merely watched patiently.

"Why, Miles? Why did you have to leave me? I loved you! I did, but now you are gone and you will never know of the love that I had for you! Oh, Miles! Why could you not let me die? At least then I could be with my sister!" She cried hopelessly.

"I will gladly oblige you, girl. It would be no trouble on my part to hasten you into the arms of your departed loved ones." Gael laughed as he aimed his weapon at Catharine.

The reactor behind us suddenly exploded, sending Zithonium crystal fragments in all directions. The lights within the ship immediately blinked out, leaving the room dark save the soft illumination provided by the crystal shards.

"This can't be! What is this?" Gael shouted in terror.

"Miles left you a gift to show his gratitude." Catharine said, trying to sound strong.

A voice sounded from Gael's wrist communicator making it apparent that they were in a dire situation.

"My Lord, the ship has lost all power! The Matriarch fleet is preparing to fire and we cannot enter warp!"

"Prepare my shuttle for departure, and tell the pilots to distract them as long as possible!" He yelled sternly.

Gael returned his attention to Catharine.

"I'm afraid that I must bid you farewell, but do not fear. I am sure that you find a way to die if you stay here any longer." Gael laughed as he ran away.

"You spineless coward! You kill and destroy without any thought or care! You are nothing but a cold-hearted monster!" Catharine yelled as she grabbed a shard of the crystal.

She threw the crystal at Gael and it plunged into his back. He fell to the ground and screamed as the crystal's energy surged through his body. Seeing that he was not yet dead, Catharine ran to Gael and pulled the crystal out of his back, preparing to stab him again.

"I want only that which is necessary to bring peace to the galaxy. What is it that you long for but to feed your own selfish desires? However, that is besides the point. Soon your fight will come to an end." Gael said weakly.

He then fell into unconsciousness just as I was beginning to wake up. Yes, I had not died, however, I had fallen into a deep slumber that felt similar to death. Before my vision had even cleared, Catharine threw her arms around me and cried into my shoulder.

"Miles! You're alive! Oh, please never scare me like that again! I was prepared to die without you!" She said over her rush of tears.

I put my arms around her and she helped me up.

"Let's go. We have to get out of here." I said sternly.

"All right, but you have to explain this to me once we leave." Catharine laughed, her expression resuming its joyful appearance.

She grabbed my hand and we began to run back to the hanger.

"Wait, Cathy! We can't leave him." I sighed as I pointed to Gael's unconscious body.

"What do you mean? He tried to kill us!" She yelled in disbelief.

"Please, Cathy. He holds valuable information that could end this war!" I said desperately.

She sighed and looked down at him.

"Fine. I'll do it for Maria, but you have to carry him." She said angrily.

I grabbed Gael and flew down the corridor while Catharine ran alongside us. We returned to the Chivalry and I threw Gael into the cabin. We took off as the hanger began to collapse on top of us. We took one last glimpse at the fortress of a ship before it was torn asunder by the repeated blasts of Elizabeth's fleet. It then exploded in a blinding flash of light.

"Wow. What a waste... I feel bad for the people who broke their backs over that thing." Catharine sighed.

Indeed, much labor had gone into the construction of that enormous vessel, and it would be quite a while before we found the true extent of Gael's evil mind.

"Hey, Miles. Thanks for saving me. You were really brave." Catharine said shyly.

"Oh, it was nothing, Cathy. It is strange, though that I did not die. That means that he wasn't intending to kill you." I speculated.

"No, Miles. It meant a lot to me. Thank you, again." She laughed and kissed me on the cheek.

I began to blush rapidly and found it difficult to control the ship.

"You're sweet, Miles," Catharine laughed as she took the wheel for me," Why don't you go secure our prisoner?"

I nodded and walked back to the cabin. I was surprised to see that Gael was awake and standing in the center of the room. I prepared to fight him but he laughed and waved his hand.

"There is no cause for panic. I will make no attempts to resist. Your friend did well, Miles. She is bold, I will give her that, but no less arrogant than the rest of her kind. If I were you, Miles, I would return to your friends and leave the Matriarchy before this war enters its final stage. It will be most catastrophic. The Universe will never be the same again." Gael said, pleased with himself.

"Why didn't you try to kill Catharine even after I had betrayed your trust?" I asked, paying him little heed.

Gael laughed and shook his head.

"Contrary to your belief, I am not stupid, Miles. I do not want this war to go on forever, and killing Miranda's last daughter would certainly be the way to do it." He said smiling.

"Who built that ship for you on Carellium, and where did you find the designs for it?" I asked inquisitively.

"So you figured out my secret did you? Well, why don't you go to Carellium and find out for yourself? Bring Shadow as well. I believe that he will be pleasantly surprised or mortified, depending on the situation." Gael said with much satisfaction.

"I will gladly visit it once your tell me where it is." I laughed.

"Miles, you mean that you didn't find the coordinates yourself? I'm disappointed in you, but I myself do not know them. You know how ignorant I am when it comes to those sorts of things." Gael said as he rolled his eye.

"I did check the coordinates, but they were encrypted. I couldn't decipher them in such a short time." I said angrily.

"What a shame. None of you would have lasted ten minutes on that planet nor would you be able to traverse its skies. It would have been most entertaining to see Shadow's expression of agonizing despair when he found out the truth." Gael sighed.

"What did you do? Did you harm Maria?" I asked as I stepped toward him.

"She is safe, I assure you, though her days are limited as are those of all her kind." Gael laughed.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

"How much do you know about the Omega Point, Miles? I would study it further if I were you. Do you have any other pointless questions, Miles? I grow weary of your impudence.

"Yes I do. What caused your intolerance toward women?" I asked inquisitively.

"Well that is simple, Miles. They use us to fulfill their own selfish goals until we are utterly spent and then they leave us to die as you will inevitably discover." Gael said, quite amused.

Of course, Gael was wrong and I never did discover this lie that he uttered with such confidence. Though it was obvious that Gael knew this from experience. I returned to Catharine. She gave me a puzzled look.

"What's wrong, Miles? Did you discover anything?" She asked inquisitively.

"No, nothing at all..." I sighed.

"Oh well, I'm sure that he will be further interrogated once we bring him back to Vulpes. What you did, Miles, could have just ended this war once and for all!" Catharine said excitedly.

We established communications with Elizabeth who was quite thrilled at our accomplishment.

"Miles, you destroyed Gael's ship! I can't believe this. You and Catharine are going to be heroes! To think that you both are merely children, yet you can accomplish a feat that many adults would not even attempt! I definitely made the right choice in hiring you! Please, return to my ship so that we can hear all about your adventure!" Elizabeth said, overjoyed.

We docked in the hanger and waited for Elizabeth to meet us. She ran and hugged me.

"Miles, please, we all want to know what happened! How did you do it?" She asked impatiently.

Gael then stepped out of our ship and smiled at everyone, obviously enjoying the attention. Elizabeth stared at him in shock.

"Hello, Elizabeth. It certainly has been far too long." Gael said as he bowed deeply before her.

TAILS IS COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	7. Chapter 7 (Tails)

Chapter 7 Hope for the Galaxy Grows Dim

Catharine and I waited outside of the prison on Vulpes. Gael had recently been detained there, and was now being interrogated by Miranda. A day had passed since we had captured Gael and news of our success quickly spread throughout the galaxy. I knew that the Gaelturi would prepare an attack to rescue their leader, but I had no doubt in the strength of the Matriarchy. The war would end soon and we would be victorious. All we had to do was find the location of Carellium and rescue Maria.

Miranda walked out of the prison and smiled at us. She appeared very worn and tired.

"Mom, did you discover anything?" Catharine asked impatiently.

Miranda sighed and shook her head.

"Unfortunately, he is as ignorant as we thought. He told me little more than what he told you, Miles. Nevertheless, I must commend you both for your heroic deed. With Gael in our captivity, the Gaelturi will soon dissolve without his leadership. Though, I would be a fool to think that they will not strike back. Beasts like them are most dangerous when they are cornered. I will see to it that you are rewarded, Miles. There was a rather large piece of Gael's Zithonium crystal that survived the explosion. I will give it to you. I am aware that you and your friends will need a way to get home." Miranda said with some sadness.

Catharine frowned when she mentioned me leaving. I had completely forgotten about our home. To me, this felt more like home than anything, mostly because of Catharine.

"Do not be in a hurry to leave just yet, Miles. This war isn't exactly won yet. We may still need you in the future. I already have a plan to find Maria. It will be put into motion soon. It was obvious that Gael did not tell me the whole truth behind his own plans. I believe that he will make one final desperate strike against us, and we must all be ready. However, that does not mean that we can't celebrate a little. There will be a dinner tonight in your honor, Miles. You should feel greatly privileged. It is not every day that we of the Matriarchy have such prestigious events to admire the actions of a man. You will be provided with a suit for the occasion. Make sure that you are there. It will be held at my personal estate on the green belt of the planet." Miranda said, trying hard not to give me much praise.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without Catharine. I think that she should be recognized as well. I wouldn't be here without her." I said embarrassed.

"Of course you couldn't have, but, being my daughter, she receives enough attention as it is. Some of us are actually beginning to uphold you as an equal, Miles. Though, know that I am not one of them. Your esteem spreads throughout the galaxy, inspiring both pride and fear. Your name is becoming known to millions, Miles. Be cautious of those that you trust. See you this evening." Miranda said warily.

She began to walk away, but Catharine stopped her.

"Mom, don't you think that Miles deserves a promotion? After all, he just won the war for us." Catharine said smiling.

"He is naught but a child, dear. I doubt that he would be able to handle the responsibilities of a woman's job. Besides, he seems perfectly happy in his current position." Miranda whispered to her.

I bowed to Miranda and she left us. We began walking back toward the hanger.

"Oh, Miles, it just isn't fair! You deserve more than a promotion. You deserve your own fleet and my mother knows it! She's just too stubborn to admit that a man like you is just as capable of being a leader as any woman." Catharine said angrily.

"Thanks, Cathy, but it's fine. I appreciate what your mother is doing for me already, and now that I have a power source to fuel my inter dimensional warp drive, my friends and I can... go home..." I said as I began to realize that I would have to leave Catharine as well.

"Miles, you really aren't going to leave are you? I mean, why would you? Does _this_ not feel like home? Your people are here and we all really admire you." Catharine asked in shock.

"I do feel at home here, Cathy, but this isn't where my friends belong." I sighed.

"Well, then why don't you stay here and let them go back?" Catharine suggested as she crossed her arms.

"But Catharine, my friends need me..." I murmured.

"_I_ need you too, Miles! Am I not your friend?" Catharine yelled as tears came to her eyes.

"What? Of course you're my friend, Cathy. I want to stay with you more than anything, but it would be selfish of me to turn my back on my other friends. They're depending on me to get them home. Hey, maybe you could come back with us!" I said excitedly.

"I wish I could, Miles, but there's no way my mother would allow it. We were fortunate that she even let me leave the planet with you, I doubt she would be very keen on me leaving the galaxy." Catharine sighed heavily.

I felt really bad for Catharine and wanted to comfort her in any way that I could.

"Hey! Why don't we go to that dinner together? C'mon! It would be fun!" I laughed, trying to cheer her up.

She laughed as well and smiled at me.

"Miles, it's standard practice within the Matriarchy that the woman asks the man to go out on a date with her, but I guess I'll go with you. I'm sure that everyone will be expecting us to go together any way." Catharine said, trying to sound uninterested.

"Oh, sorry, but I see what you mean. It would be kind of weird if we went separately." I said embarrassed.

"All right then. Miles, could you fly me over to my mom's house?" Catharine laughed.

"Sure! I could use your help finding it actually. I don't know this planet very well." I said blushing.

We returned to hanger eleven and entered the Chivalry. I walked back into the cabin to find a suit coat stretched out on top of a large steel container which I guessed was the crystal fragment that Miranda had given me. I hoped, deep down, that it wouldn't supply the Ark with enough power to leave.

I changed into the suit and looked down at myself, thinking that I looked quite silly. I hesitantly returned to the cockpit. Catharine gasped when she saw me and clasped her hands together. She then threw her arms around me.

"Oh, Miles, you are so adorable!" She said pleasantly.

I smiled at her and blushed.

"Thanks, Cathy." I laughed.

"I really like spending time together on our ship, Miles. It's like our own little place where we can escape the rest of the world." Catharine said as she kneeled down to me.

"Yeah, I like it a lot too. It feels like we can forget all of our troubles when we're here." I said embarrassed.

She laughed and nodded.

"I suppose we should get going. Once we're there I'll have to get ready as well." She sighed.

We took our seats and flew off out of the hanger. Catharine helped me fly to her mother's estate. It was a huge marble palace, more beautiful than anything I had seen on this planet. It was built on the shore of a large lake. We landing in a small clearing and entered the courtyard.

"Wow! This place is beautiful! Is this really where you grew up?" I asked as I marveled at the gardens and fountains outside of the mansion.

"Yes. I did nothing but study and train. I would cry to my sister every time she came home, pleading for her to help me escape. She would always explain to me how our mother was just doing this to me out of love before she would help me with my studies. I never could have made it without her. I wish that she were here now, to see how happy I am with you, Miles." Catharine sighed.

"Oh... I'm sorry." I muttered.

"Don't be, Miles. It wasn't your fault." She said quietly.

We walked into the manner where we were greeted by Elizabeth. She was wearing a red dress and her hair was curled. She looked quite stunning.

"Miles! I'm so glad that you made it! Oh, and you look so cute! Please, come with me! Everyone is waiting to see you!" Elizabeth said as she dragged me away.

"Wait! Catharine and I are going together! She has to get ready!" I protested.

She ignored my struggles and pulled me into the banquet hall. It was a long room with two huge tables, each piled with food that smelled delicious. There were several high ranking officers present. However, the women seemed to keep to one half of the room while the men stayed on the other. Miranda was standing on a stage at the back end of the room. She stared at me and smiled, though it seemed to be more of a smile of satisfaction than that of joy. She wore a long black dress and black gloves. Her hair was draped down over her shoulders. Everyone stared at me when I entered the room which made me feel very uncomfortable. Miranda motioned for me to join her on the stage and I solemnly obeyed. She placed her hand on my shoulder and smiled at the crowd of awed spectators.

"Sisters and brothers in arms," she began, "I have, standing with me here tonight, a gallant hero who brought us victory in this long and gruesome war. For he brought into our custody, our cowardly foe, Gael. And as if that wasn't enough, he also managed to discover the planet where Maria has been held captive these last five years."

She turned to me and smiled.

"On a more personal note, I would also like to publicly thank him for saving the life of my daughter, though, I must remind him that it was he who placed her in the very danger from which she was saved." Miranda said as she rolled her eyes.

"Nonetheless, I would like to present this medal to Miles Prower as a display of our gratitude and appreciation toward his noble actions." Miranda said as she held out a silver medal and placed it around my neck.

I bowed and thanked her as the crowd applauded.

"Would you like to say any words, Miles?" Miranda asked, though it was more of a command.

"Yes, of course," I laughed, "The first thing I would like to say, is that I could have never done this without a very special person, and that is Catharine Slyve. She..."

I was interrupted when Catharine walked into the hall. She was wearing a bright yellow dress that matched the color of my fur. She was so beautiful that I could not speak. I stared at her and the rest of the officers quickly followed my gaze. Catharine became very embarrassed and did not move any further into the hall. I could feel the sweat forming on the back of my neck. Finally, I was able to continue my speech.

"She is the nicest and most brilliant girl I know. Without her I wouldn't have even been able to build my ship, but together we were able to build something far beyond any piece of mechanical engineering: A relationship of which I have never known the like thereof, a relationship founded upon selflessness and forgiveness. Together, I know that we can overcome any challenge because we are always there for each other through the calm and the storm. Why do I know this? I know this because..." I could feel an overwhelming sense of guilt swelling up within my chest as Miranda began staring at me with her cold, lifeless eyes. I stared into them, unable to remove my gaze. "Because I love her! And... And I kissed her!" I shouted, trying desperately to hold back my tears.

The women in the crowed gasped while the men laughed and cheered for me. Miranda raised an eyebrow and grinned mischievously at me, but made no signs of displeasure. In fact, it was quite the opposite. She seemed pleased and slightly impressed. The officers in the crowd began to whisper amongst themselves, some laughing at my words and others taking it very seriously. Catharine said nothing but stared at me with much confusion. I panicked and hastily flew off of the stage and out of the hall.

"Miles? Miles!" Catharine yelled as she ran after me.

She caught up with me on the steps of the manor and grabbed my tails. I screamed and fell on the ground. She was wearing heels which caused her to tower over me.

"Miles, what do you think you're doing?" She asked harshly.

"Catharine! Ah! I don't know! I can't believe that I said that! It was your mother, her stare. There was a force to it. It just pulled the words out of me! I'm sorry if I embarrassed you..." I yelled, stumbling over my words.

Catharine laughed and placed her hand on my shoulder.

"It's fine, Miles. I wasn't embarrassed. I was quite shocked actually. You surprised me. Why don't we go for a walk?" She said smiling.

I nodded and she took my hand. We walked down by the lake and stared up at the moon.

"Miles, did you really mean what you said about loving me?" Catharine asked hopefully.

"Well, yes, but I..."

"That's wonderful, Miles! I love you too, but we're still very young. You don't have to act like I'm the only person in the universe like I do with you, but that's only because, to me, you _are_ the only person in the universe that truly cares for me. If you leave with your friends, Miles, you shouldn't worry about me... because I'm going with you." Catharine said happily.

"What? Really? What about your mother?" I asked confused.

"I don't care what she thinks, Miles! I just want to grow up with you! You mean everything to me! No one else loves me, not even my own mother..." Catharine said as tears formed in her eyes.

"Cathy, please don't cry. I won't leave you. I promise!" I said smiling.

She laughed and sat down next to me.

"Miles, it's hard to believe that we just met a few days ago. It feels like I've known you my entire life. It's probably because you're the only person that I've gotten to know other than my sister." She whispered to me.

I blushed and smiled at her.

"I know what you mean, Catharine. It feels like I've known you for quite some time as well. I wish that we _had_ been able to meet sooner." I sighed.

She laughed and nodded in agreement.

"Hey, Miles, would you let me hold you?" Catharine asked embarrassed.

"Oh, sure." I said as I sat down in her lap.

She put her arms around me and I leaned my head against her shoulder.

"Thank you, Miles, and don't worry. You won't get into any trouble. I'll make sure of it." Catharine whispered to me.

I looked up at her and smiled.

"Cathy, I mean no offense by this but do you think that your mother seems to act a lot like Gael?" I asked quietly.

She laughed at my question.

"It's fine, Miles. I have always thought of my mother as an evil person, mostly because of the torture she put me through when I was younger. Though, now that you mention it, she does seem to have a mischievous look about her. Amanda told me that she even had our father murdered shortly after they separated. I never knew him, but she did. My sister told me that he was a very nice and pleasant man. To be honest, Miles, I still don't understand my mother. I wish that I could. I'm not sure if anyone understands her..." Catharine said sadly.

I frowned at her and shook my head.

"She certainly is a mysterious person." I said wearily as I began to yawn.

"You can go to sleep if you want, Miles. I don't mind." Catharine laughed.

I smiled at her and closed my eyes. She wrapped her tail around me to keep me warm. I quickly fell asleep in her embrace.

When I awakened it was nearly sunrise. I sat up and looked around. To my surprise, Catharine was nowhere in sight. I returned to the clearing where we had landed our ship to find that it was gone as well. I walked back to Miranda's estate where I was seized by two female foxes before I could even enter the courtyard.

"Hey! What's going on here? Where's Catharine? And what did you all do to our ship?" I asked angrily.

"By order of the Matriarch, you are under arrest for inappropriately socializing with her daughter." One of the women said sternly.

"What? You can't be serious! And since when do we have a true Matriarch?" I asked outraged.

"You should have stayed for the remainder of the ceremonies last night, little boy." She laughed.

I was chained and escorted back to the capital city. They stripped me of my suit though they left the medal around my neck which confused me. I was taken to the same prison that held Gael, and I had the misfortune of receiving the cell next to his. I was throne into the cell and was then enclosed by an energy field.

Gael looked at me and smiled.

"Ugh... Not you. I'm not in the mood to talk." I sighed.

"How ironic, Miles! I told you not to trust these women. Your friend has left you now. You served her purposes and now she has thrown you into the chasm of despair and heartbreak." Gael laughed.

"You're wrong! If anyone is going to fix this, it's Catharine!" I yelled in protest.

"We shall see how well-placed your faith is in this heroine of yours." Gael said pleasantly.

I growled at him, but could find no insult to utter. I sighed and sat down on the steel floor.

"What's going on here anyway, Gael?" I asked confused.

"You'll find out soon enough, my friend. A new order is rising amidst the Matriarchy, one that will starve this galaxy until it dies. Billions will perish and even more will suffer. To think that you thought I was evil! No, all I wanted was to bring peace to the galaxy. Now it will never be the same, just as I had warned you." Gael said frowning.

"But what about Maria?" I asked in shock.

"What of her? Miranda formed the Matriarchy in order to gain ultimate power and authority, not to save one girl. I'm sure that she would like to rescue her, but this war was never started for that purpose. Even now, Miranda's fleet is preparing to launch its campaign on an unknowing galaxy. It will be swift and very bloody. The remains of my people will be the only thing strong enough to oppose her. If you and your friends don't reunite soon then I'm afraid all will be lost." Gael said sternly.

"Alright, then, how do we get out of here?" I asked as I crossed my arms.

"If Shadow falls for my trap, then I will be freed. However, I'm not sure how you will escape. You'll have to figure that one out on your own, my friend." Gael said pleasantly.

I turned away from him and stared out of my cell, into the corridor. Hours passed as more and more prisoners were brought in, stripped of their clothes and bound in chains. They were all of course, men. More hours passed and eventually, an entire day went by. Word eventually arrived that Miranda's conquest of the galaxy had begun and I gave up hope that I would ever see Catharine again. I wrapped myself in my tails and began to cry.

"You... You were right, Gael! She did leave me! Now I'll never see her smile again, or hear her laughter!" I sobbed into my tails.

"No, I was wrong, Miles. She'll be back. She hasn't forgotten you." Gael said smiling.

I looked over at him and he gave me a thumbs up. Another hour passed and I heard footsteps rapidly approaching. It was indeed Catharine. She gasped when she saw me and quickly lowered the energy field. She kneeled down and threw her arms around me.

"I'm here, Miles! Please don't cry!" Catharine cried as she held me against her chest.

"Catharine... I thought that you had abandoned me." I sobbed.

She kissed me on the cheek and wiped away my tears.

"No, Miles, sweetie, I would have never left you. I was always thinking about you." She whispered in my ear.

"I lost my faith in you, Catharine! I'm so sorry!" I cried.

"Sh... That's fine, Miles. I forgive you. Please, we have to get out of here. I landed our ship just outside the prison. we're going to get off this planet and meet up with your friends." Catharine said, trying to comfort me.

She helped me up and we continued out of the prison.

"My mother has gone insane, Miles. She's declared herself Matriarch and said that all men deserve nothing but slavery and death. Eventually, the guards of this prison were taken away. That's how I got inside to rescue you." Catharine said sadly.

We escaped from the prison and got into the Chivalry. We sat down in our seats and took off, purging through the atmosphere. The automatic surface turrets failed to hit us as we were much too fast. We headed toward one of the space stations and blasted our way through it, disabling the planetary shield. Several fighters pursued us but we warped away as soon as we had cleared the system.

Before I knew it I saw the Ark once again, still floating in space where we had left it.

"Miles, you did it! We're safe!" Catharine laughed as she hugged me.

I blushed and smiled at her.

"Thanks, Cathy. Thank you for saving me back there." I sighed.

"I would have had them imprison me with you before I left you there on your own, Miles. I told you that you mean everything to me." She whispered to me.

"Catharine, I really do love you. Please, never forget that." I said quietly.

"Believe me, Miles. I won't. I promise, and I will never stop loving you." She laughed.

"Thanks, Cathy. How would you like to meet my friends?" I said excitedly.

"Sure!"

We landed in the hanger of the Ark and ran to the observation deck. There, we found Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles. Knuckles immediately ran to me and gave me a high-five.

"Tails! You're finally back! Now I don't have to be the third... Wait, who's this?" Knuckles asked quietly as he pointed to Catharine.

"Hello! My name is Catharine and I'm Miles's girlfriend!" She said happily.

"What? Miles?" Sonic said trying to contain his laughter.

"Girlfriend? Great! Now I'm the fifth wheel!" Knuckles shouted in despair.

"She's your girlfriend, Tails! Oh, that is so cute!" Amy said excitedly.

"Yes, she is. We fell in love while building a plane together." I said embarrassed.

"Yeah, that sounds like you." Sonic laughed.

"Is she one of those Matriarch women?" Knuckles asked warily.

"I was, but we sort of left the Matriarchy..." Catharine sighed.

"What is she talking about, Tails?" Sonic asked confused.

"Catharine's mom took over the Matriarchy and she's beginning a campaign to conquer the galaxy. We also captured Gael which means that nothing stands in her way besides us. We barely escaped from her." I said sadly.

"It sounds like we need to find Blaze and Maria then get out of here." Knuckles said sternly.

We all nodded in agreement.

"We haven't heard anything from Shadow and Rouge or Silver. I hope they're okay." Amy sighed.

"They'll be fine, Amy. The least we can do is help them out. Tails, I hope that you have a better understanding of the technology in this dimension." Sonic said as he put his arm around Amy.

"I sure do! In fact, we brought back something that will allow us to make the Ark mobile and optimize its weapon systems to match those of the Matriarchy!" I said as I looked over at Catharine.

"Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's get to work!" Knuckles said impatiently.

We returned to the hanger and showed Knuckles the steel container in which was the Zithonium crystal from Gael's ship. Knuckles carried it to the central control room. We carefully removed the large crystal and placed it in a glass container. We then connected the warp drive I had built to the container, and immediately felt a tremor that shook the entire Ark.

"Whoa! This thing must be really powerful." Sonic said as he smiled at me.

I nodded and continued to work on re-routing the weapon systems to the crystal as well. It took a very long time as the Ark's outdated technology was not stable enough to support the energy from the crystal. Catharine helped me immensely in this, and we stayed up all night working on it. By the time it was finally done, we were both about to collapse from exhaustion. We walked to the dormitory to find Sonic and Amy asleep together on one of the beds while Knuckles leaned up against the wall. He half opened his eyes and watched us.

"If Shadow comes back with Maria and Silver comes back with Blaze, then I'll be stuck with Rouge... Why didn't I stay on Angel Island?" Knuckles groaned.

Catharine and I lied down on one of the beds together. She kissed my forehead and pulled me closer to her. I smiled and wrapped my tails around her. She laughed and ran her hand down my tail.

"Good night, Miles. I love you." She whispered to me.

"Good night, Cathy. I love you too." I said wearily.

This time I really did kiss her on purpose. She blushed and stared at me.

"It's what people do when they're in love, right?" I laughed.

She smiled and kissed me again.

"Yes, you're right, Miles. See you in the morning." She said quietly.

I closed my eyes and let her heartbeat sing me to sleep.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	8. Chapter 8 (Rouge)

Chapter 8 Meeting an Old Friend and Making a New Enemy

Hello! My name is Rouge the Bat. Now it's my turn to take center stage! Sonic's and Tails' stories were okay, but I guarantee that mine is going to blow you away! As you know, Shadow and I chose to separate from Sonic and his friends. We had been on a quest to find Maria for over a week now. Fortunately, Shadow had been able to teleport us to different planets, and we didn't have to steal a ship, though I had asked him repeatedly if I could. I trusted Shadow, but I knew that when it came to finding Maria, he wouldn't hesitate to leave me stranded. We had traveled across the Gaelturi's empire, searching for a possible lead for Maria's location. During this, we also had to stay undercover so that no one would get suspicious of us.

On the third day of our search, Shadow and I discovered a file saying that Nightbaron had failed to transform Maria into a hedgehog and that he had died in an accident three years ago. Of course, this did little to impede Shadow's determination. Then, on the fifth day of our search, we received word that Tails had captured Gael and the Matriarchy was now claming supreme rule of the galaxy. This put Shadow on edge and we began to search with extra caution, knowing well that the Matriarchy was still looking for us, specifically Shadow. Two days had passed since then and we began to hear rumors that the Matriarch's fleet was approaching our system, Daithon III. It was a temperate planet on the edge of the Gaelturi's empire. We had been living in an old abandoned warehouse, which contained the perfect living conditions for me.

"Shadow, we need to get off of this planet." I said warily as I flew down from the scaffolding.

"It's time that we stopped hiding, Rouge. It is obvious that Maria's location is top secret among the Gaelturi, but if the Matriarchy has truly captured Gael, then perhaps he would have given them information on her." Shadow speculated.

"Are you suggesting that we just walk up to the Matriarch and ask her what she knows about Maria? Shadow, they'll attack us!" I said briskly.

Shadow looked at me and smiled.

"They would attack me, but not you." Shadow said as he rolled his eyes.

"Wait. You want me to join the Matriarchy? Shadow, I like you, but not enough to do something crazy like that!" I laughed.

"If you don't, then I'll kill every last one of them if I have to in order to find out the truth. I am more than willing to do so, for Maria's sake." Shadow said as he began to walk away.

I flew in front of Shadow and stopped him.

"Hold on, Shadow. If I didn't know you so well, I would say that you're just bluffing, but since I do, I know that you always mean what you say. I'll do it, but they better give me a ship that we can use, and a pretty gem wouldn't be so bad either." I said smiling.

"Go! I'll wait for you here. Be quick about it. There's no telling what tortures Maria could be enduring right now." Shadow sighed.

"You can't rush expertise, Shadow." I said proudly.

I winked at him and flew out through a hole in the roof. The rumors that we had heard were indeed true. A Matriarchy fleet had surrounded the planet and was preparing to invade it. Strangely enough, the Gaelturi were preparing to evacuate the planet instead of defending it. A large Matriarch ship was preparing to land just as the last of the Gaelturi had taken off. The ship landed on top of the city, crushing several buildings. I flew toward the ship and concealed myself in the rubble that surrounded it. I bruised my shoulder by hitting it against a large stone and crawled over the rubble, making sure to get myself as dirty as possible. I then threw myself onto the ground and cried, pretending to be in pain. A fox noticed me and ran to my aid. She held my head up and cleaned my face with her glove.

"You poor thing! What happened to you?" She asked, nervously.

"The building... It collapsed... but I escaped. Oh, it hurts!" I sobbed as I gripped my shoulder.

She yelled for help and two other foxes surrounded me. They were also women. I was carried onboard their ship into a medical bay. They laid me down on one of the tables and bandaged my shoulder. One of the foxes then scanned me.

"Nothing is broken, but you certainly hurt your shoulder. Other than that, your injuries are quite minor. I'm terribly sorry that we hurt you. We had been informed that this city was abandoned." She said frowning.

"They-They left me behind..." I said, wincing in pain.

"Please, is there anything we could do for you? I assure you that the Matriarchy would never mistreat a woman. I deeply apologize." She sighed.

"I... I would like a job. I don't have anywhere else to go." I said sadly.

"Of course! I will inform our commanding officer now. Rest now. She will come to see you here." The woman said and hastily left the room.

I then jumped up from the table and ran to a nearby computer where I began to access the data records. I discovered the location of the Matriarchy's capital planet as well as the identity of the new Matriarch, Miranda.

"What a pretty girl. It's good that she hates men. She could give me some competition. Oh, and what's this? It looks like her daughter was the girl that Shadow killed. We're in even more danger than I thought." I said nervously.

I quickly logged off and jumped back onto the table as I could hear faint footsteps slowly approaching.

Another fox walked into the medical bay. She walked over to me and held my hand.

"I am very sorry for that I hurt you. I assure you that we of the Matriarchy have the utmost respect for women. What is your name? My name is Elizabeth." She said as she kneeled down to face me.

"I'm Rouge the Bat. Don't worry. I've been hurt worse. The Gaelturi can be very cruel." I sighed.

"Well then, Rouge, if you are able to walk, I would be happy to escort you to your room. You can clean up there and rest more comfortably. We can talk about your recruitment later. As for now, consider yourself our guest." Elizabeth said happily.

"Thank you, Elizabeth. I would like to rest in my room now." I said as I sat up.

"Wonderful! Follow me, Rouge." She said smiling.

We left the medical bay and walked down the corridor together, though I pretended to limp.

"So what exactly is going on here with the Matriarchy?" I asked confused.

"My old friend, Miranda has been going insane since the death of her daughter. She recently declared herself the Matriarch and is determined to conquer the galaxy. It is a sad time, especially now that her other daughter has disappeared. I believe that she escaped with another one of my recent recruits, Miles Prower. I'm sure that you've heard of him." Elizabeth sighed.

I was very surprised to hear that Tails had left the Matriarchy. I guessed that he had met up with Sonic again on the Ark. However, I was even more surprised to hear that he had escaped with a girl. This intrigued me greatly.

"Yes, I've heard of him. It's a shame that he left..." I said sadly.

Elizabeth nodded and appeared to be struggling to hold back her tears.

"You know, I'm pretty good at flying with my wings, and I've flown a space fighter before. Maybe I could be a pilot as well. I'd just need a ship of course." I said as I flew around to show off.

"Perhaps. I wouldn't want you to get into the fray of battle, but we could always use transport ships. We receive many prisoners nowadays." Elizabeth speculated.

"That's fine with me." I said satisfied.

Elizabeth smiled at me and nodded. We entered my room and she made certain that I had everything I needed.

"Please, rest. Meet with me whenever you are ready and I will give you your training and ship. I suggest that you study our designs on your computer over there. It would be most helpful. There is a uniform on your bed as well. I would suggest that you refrain from wearing those pants of yours. It is standard protocol that we do not wear any male garments." Elizabeth said as she surveyed my outfit.

"Yes, of course!" I laughed.

She nodded and left the room. I walked over to my bed and observed the uniform. It was a standard black top and skirt with boots.

"I do look very nice in black." I said smiling.

I walked over to the bathroom and cleaned myself up. Afterwards, I changed into my uniform and got onto the computer that was in my room. I looked at the ship designs like Elizabeth had told me, but found myself quickly falling into boredom. I then continued my brief search through the Matriarchy's recent data records. I stumbled upon a recent file that had just been added the day before. I read it and almost fell out of my seat! It said that the Matriarchy had found Maria and that she was currently on Vulpes, their capital planet. However, that wasn't all. It also said that the Matriarch scientists had been successful in turning her into a hedgehog. Though, why they would do such a thing was unknown to me. I grabbed my original outfit and hurried to the hanger.

Elizabeth was already there waiting for me.

"Something told me that you wouldn't be resting very long." She laughed.

Elizabeth took me to my ship. It was fairly large, most of its size being in its cargo hold.

"Unfortunately, Rouge, I was just called on an emergency mission. I will have to leave the planet soon. I hope that you studied because you'll have to make time for training later. Your first task will be to deliver a supply of weapons to Vulpes. Miranda doesn't want any more escapees from that planet. If you don't know the way there, just check your navigation charts. There will also be a clearance code that you will need in order to land. Good luck. I must be off. You can stay here on the surface until you are ready.

I thought to myself that this couldn't be anymore perfect. Not only were we given a shop, but a free pass to Vulpes and Maria as well. I was also certain that Shadow would enjoy looking through their stock of weapons. Elizabeth left me and I got into my ship. I threw my outfit into the cargo hold and took the wheel. Fortunately, I new enough about flying planes from G.U.N.'s basic training to operate their ship. I flew out of the hanger and onto the planet's surface, though I flew much faster than I intended. Elizabeth's vessel left the planet shortly after and I flew toward the warehouse, hoping that Shadow was still there. To my surprise, he had not left. He ran outside of the building to meet me.

"Nice outfit." He said with a smirk.

"Shadow, if you don't start treating me with respect then I won't tell you anything that I discovered." I said as I began to walk away.

"Rouge, wait! I'm... I'm sorry. I am just so anxious to find her." Shadow said regretfully.

"Then you'll be pleased to know that Maria has already been liberated by the Matriarchy and she is on Vulpes. I also received a ship along with a code that will allow us to land on the planet." I said haughtily. I refrained from telling him that she had been turned into a hedgehog.

"Are you serious? Rouge, that's wonderful! You're amazing!" Shadow said happily.

"I know I am." I laughed.

"Let's go to Vulpes and find her, Rouge. Then we can get back to the Ark and go home." Shadow said, his mood now drastically changed.

We got onto my ship and took off into space.

"You _do_ know that way to Vulpes, right, Rouge?" Shadow asked concerned.

"Yes, it's in the navigation charts. I can put the ship on auto pilot to take us there." I explained.

"Doesn't this thing have a warp drive like their other vessels." Shadow said impatiently.

"I'm sure that it does, but I don't feel like pressing random buttons until I find out which one it is." I said smiling.

Shadow nodded.

"I will wait in the cargo hold." Shadow said as he walked away.

"Wait! I'll join you. There are some weapons back there if you'd like to check them out." I said as I got up and followed him.

"So be it." He said frowning.

The cargo hold was quite large, being about the size of the observation deck on the Ark. There were three large crates chained to the back wall. Shadow began to open one of them, but I quickly grabbed his hand.

"Hold up, Shadow! Do you hear that? There are explosive devices in these crates! They could detonate if you open them." I said urgently.

Shadow backed away from them and gripped my hand tightly.

"We need to get them off of here now before they destroy the ship." Shadow said nervously.

"Hang on, Shadow. This is very mysterious. Did Elizabeth really mean to kill me, or did she know that I was helping you? Whatever the reason, this was obviously a trap. I have a feeling that there will be a lot of confused faces when we arrive. I think that we can use these bombs to our advantage." I said pleasantly.

"Fine, Rouge, but I'm staying close to you so I can get us out of here if they detonate. I don't like this, Rouge. This our only chance to find Maria." Shadow said warily.

"That sounds like a great idea, Shadow! I can't complain about that." I said as I threw my arms around him.

"Not that close." He sighed and shrugged me off.

"You know, Shadow, playing hard to get will only make me try harder." I said as I took his hand.

"Rouge, your affiliation towards me is not mutual. Just stay focused on the task at hand." Shadow said annoyed.

"Fine, Shadow. Let's just get to Vulpes and find Maria. It's all that you care about anyway." I said as I left the cargo hold.

Shadow grabbed my shoulder.

"Rouge, wait. I didn't mean to say that I don't care for you. I do, but I'm not in love with you. I've never loved anyone..." Shadow sighed.

"Oh, come on, Shadow! You loved Maria didn't you, and I say that you're just too embarrassed to express your true feelings for me as well." I said as I winked at him.

Shadow laughed and smiled at me.

"I did love Maria, but not in the way that you are thinking. Maybe you are right, Rouge, but my love toward Maria only means that I need to focus on finding her." Shadow said as he crossed his arms.

"All right, then. Let's get going." I sighed.

The flight to Vulpes took hours, hours that were lengthened by Shadow's silent mood as he gazed out into space, occasionally glaring at me when I flirted with him. Though, he seemed to lighten up once we arrived at Vulpes. There was a large fleet surrounding the planet. It looked as though they were repairing a large space station. The communications alarm sounded, and Shadow ran into the cargo hold.

A fox appeared on my view screen. She stared at me in confusion.

"State your name at once! Your arrival isn't on my schedule." She said hastily.

"I know, sweetie, but I hear that you are desperate for weapons. I brought a large supply for you, at a reasonable price, of course." I said smiling.

She sighed and glared at me.

"If our situation hear wasn't so dire, I would destroy you right now. My reputation could be tarnished for accepting your black market merchandise. Make your visit short and stay quiet about this. I will personally compensate you later. Now go before I change my mind." She said angrily.

She began to close communications, but hesitated.

"Sensors are reading another organic life form onboard your ship... Wait. Now it's gone? What kind of game are you playing, bat?" She asked, growing further annoyed.

"Hey! I started this mission alone! How do I know that it's not one of your spies trying to steal my cargo?" I said warily.

"Fair enough. You better leave the system within the hour, little girl." She warned me and closed communications.

I sped towards the planet's surface, knowing with full confidence that Shadow was already there. I landed at the air field outside the Matriarchy's military headquarters. Several male foxes immediately came to unload my cargo. They were being led by a woman.

"Take these to the prison, and be quick! Miranda wants Gael locked down as hard as possible before his foolish people come to his rescue!" She ordered.

The woman paid me no attention, obviously unaware to the fact that my delivery was not on schedule. I followed them further into the city. It was filled with statues and symbols of a woman that I guessed was Miranda, though her portrayals here were much more grand than those that I saw in her records.

I was suddenly pulled into a dark alley to be reunited with Shadow.

"I apologize for scaring you, Rouge, but I have to remain conspicuous. Where is Maria any way? Do you know?" He asked desperately.

"I don't know, Shadow. She's probably in some hospital or research facility. Something tells me that these Matriarch women aren't going to treat her much differently from the Gaelturi." I said as I shrugged my shoulders.

"All right. Then why don't we check the prison? Your explosive ammunitions would cause the perfect distraction. Continue to follow them. I'll be right behind you." Shadow said smiling.

I nodded and ran off to catch up with the convoy that was heading toward the prison. I was surprised to see someone emerge from its gate. The woman was none other than Miranda accompanied by her elite female guards. They ran to the men carrying my supplies and lashed at them with their whips until they were kneeling on the ground before her. The female fox then began speaking with Miranda.

"How is she? Will she live?" The woman asked nervously.

"Of course. She will be fine. Actually, she has helped my plans immensely. Miles will soon pay for taking my daughter. And Amanda will have her vengeance upon Shadow. It will all work out in the end. Soon, both of my daughters will return to me and the Gaelturi shall be utterly crushed. Then the galaxy will be ours and I shall sit upon a throne of the skulls of men. The hour swiftly approaches that we will be relived from their vile existence forever." Miranda said as she clenched her fists.

"My lady, I mean no disrespect, but how does Amanda plan to kill Shadow? He possesses great power." She asked concerned.

"My daughter has her way of avenging her broken heart. After all, look at what happened to Nightbaron. His death will be the precursor to the doom of the galaxy." Miranda said as she walked away, ignoring me, for which I was thankful.

Without saying a word, we continued into the prison. After the door had closed behind us, the fox stopped me.

"I thank you for blindly following me here. Now, I can place you under arrest you thief!" She said smiling.

"_Me_? What did I ever do wrong?" I asked in shock.

"Don't play games with me, little girl. You came here to steal our secrets and sell them to the Gaelturi! Well, it's too late for that. Nothing can save them now, I assure you." The fox said as she bound my hands with a pair of cuffs.

The ammunition crates then exploded, knocking us over and sending debris throughout the corridor. The prison immediately went on lockdown as alarms began to sound. Shadow appeared and helped me up. He broke me free and grabbed my hand.

"Let's get moving!" He said urgently.

We blasted our way through the security doors, trying to find where they were keeping Maria.

"Shadow, do you know where you're going? We could run into another trap!" I yelled over the blare of the alarm.

"I know what I'm doing, Rouge!" He said annoyed.

"Lost, are we Shadow?" A voice said from within a cell behind us.

It was a dreadful voice, one that burrowed into my soul's deepest chambers and chilled my spirit. It was that of Gael's.

"I had a feeling that we would be seeing you here, Gael." Shadow said smiling.

"Indeed. I foresaw our meeting as well. Tell me, what are you doing here besides falling deeper into a trap of course." Gael laughed.

"I'm looking for Maria. The Matriarchy is holding her here." Shadow said confused.

"What? Where did you receive this information? Maria is still in my custody on Carellium. It is not possible that the Matriarchy could have found her so quickly. Release me, and I will bring you to the _real_ Maria." Gael said as he walked toward us.

"She is here, Gael! It was in their records. They even managed to turn her into a hedgehog, something you failed to do." I said smugly.

"They what?" Shadow gasped.

"Oh... I see. I will leave you both alone, then." Gael said, quite baffled as he sat back down.

"Rouge! Why did you not tell me about this?" Shadow asked in shock.

"Forget it, Shadow! Let's go!" I said hastily.

We continued running down the corridor at a frantic pace. However, our speed did little to aid us in finding Maria. Eventually, the alarm ceased, bring relief to my sensitive ears. Shadow had stopped running so that I could rest.

"Shadow, maybe Gael was right. Perhaps Maria isn't here, and those files I read were just forged in order to lead us into this trap." I sighed.

"No, she is here! You heard Miranda. She was speaking about Maria earlier. How would she know that I was with you?" Shadow yelled in denial.

"Shadow, she could have been speaking about anyone. Perhaps it was her daughter that you thought to have killed. Maybe they had been trying to save her. I'm sorry Shadow, but she isn't here." I said with pity.

Shadow turned around and stared at me.

"Rouge, I apologize for getting you into this. I really am grateful for your support. If you truly think that we should go then we will." Shadow said embarrassed.

I smiled at him and began to blush.

"Thanks, Shadow... I-"

"Maria!" Shadow yelled, cutting me off.

He sprinted down the corridor. I hurried to follow him. I caught up to Shadow as he was standing outside of a cell, trying to deactivate its force field. Inside the cell was a young female hedgehog. She was as tall as me though she looked to be somewhat older, perhaps nineteen or twenty. She had yellow fur and blonde hair that were both very unkempt. She had deep blue eyes that would have been intensified by her blue dress had it not been so filthy and discolored. Despite all of this, she was quite beautiful, and to my displeasure, Shadow quickly realized this as well. I didn't want to believe that this girl could possibly be Maria, but there was no denying it. She was crying furiously, her dress stained with tears as she pressed her body up against the force field.

"Shadow! You came! I knew you would come back for me!" Maria sobbed as tears streamed down her face.

Shadow then punched the control systems, disabling the field. Maria ran to Shadow and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back, making me green with envy. Shadow was now crying, something I had never seen him do.

"Maria, you're alive! I knew that I would see you again! I'm so sorry, Maria, for letting them do this to you!" Shadow cried in grief.

"It's alright, Shadow. There was nothing you could do. All that matters is that we're together again." Maria whispered to him.

"Hey, don't you think that we should get back to the Ark before they come looking for us?" I said annoyed.

"You brought the Ark here? How?" Maria asked in shock.

"It's a long story, Maria. I'll explain once we get there." Shadow said hastily.

Maria nodded and held onto Shadow. Shadow put his other arm around me. Maria and I stared at each other, and for a brief moment she looked as though she wanted to kill me. If it had been anyone else, I would not have feared, but this was supposed to be Shadow's friend who he portrayed as being innocent and harmless. To know that she had already gathered so much hatred for me just because Shadow put his arm around me was enough to inspire fear within my heart.

Shadow looked down at us suspiciously. We smiled at him and he nodded. We then vanished in a flash of light.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	9. Chapter 9 (Rouge)

Chapter 9 Shadow's Fall Begins

Shadow, Maria, and I arrived back at the Ark on the observation deck. Maria immediately began to cry.

"Shadow! It hasn't changed at all! We had so many great memories here..." Maria sighed as she leaned her head on Shadow's shoulder. I frowned and turned away from them.

"Yes, I remember them... to an extent." Shadow laughed.

"How did you do it, Shadow? How did you get the Ark all the way out here?" Maria asked confused.

"I'd like to ask how _you_ got all the way out here, sweetie." I asked as I crossed my arms.

Shadow looked at her, expecting an answer.

She thought for a while. It was obvious that she had little to say on the matter.

"I don't know, Shadow. All I remember is meeting another hedgehog. He looked a lot like you. I actually mistook him for you until he explained what had happened to me and where I was. He tried to keep me hidden for a while until I was finally found. Another hedgehog named Alfred Nightbaron took me away from him. I then found myself being the center of a long, violent debate between the hedgehogs that form the Gaelturi and the foxes of the Matriarchy. The hedgehogs wanted to keep me a secret from the rest of their empire that they shared at the time with the foxes. However, the women wanted to help me start a new life here. Well, the argument quickly escalated when Gael and Nightbaron kidnapped me. The war went on for five years with little sign of ending until recently when Gael was captured. I thought that my suffering would end once the Matriarchy freed me, but they seemed to now share Gael's belief. They wanted to keep me a secret as well, and to do that they made me like this, something that Nightbaron couldn't do, even dieing as consequence." Maria explained.

"We already knew most of that, sweetie. However, this hedgehog that you met interests me. What was his name?" I asked inquisitively.

"His name was Neo. He was such a nice guy. He reminded me of you, Shadow. He said that he knew you. I don't know how, though. I never heard of him again after Nightbaron took me. I would like to see him again." Maria said sadly.

"He knew me? How? That's impossible!" Shadow said, almost laughing.

"He did, Shadow, I swear. He knew about me as well, and even the Ark." Maria said as she grabbed his hand.

"All right, Maria. I believe you." Shadow said smiling.

Sonic then came running onto the observation deck with Amy. They both gasped when they saw Maria.

"Hey, Shadow! You're back! Who's your girlfriend?" Sonic asked happily.

Shadow let go of Maria's hand and frowned at Sonic.

"This is Maria. The Matriarchy managed to turn her into a Mobian hedgehog. Rouge and I rescued her on Vulpes." Shadow said annoyed.

"Well, it's good to finally meet you, Maria. My name is Sonic the Hedgehog and this is-"

"Hi! I'm Amy Rose! Oh, I can't believe that you and Shadow are actually together again! I'm so happy for you! Come on, we have to get you out of that filthy dress. I brought a few others that would probably fit you." Amy said excitedly as she grabbed Maria's hand.

"Thank you, Amy, but I don't want to leave Shadow. Maybe later." Maria laughed nervously.

"Oh, well he can come too!" Amy said cheerfully.

"Wait! What?" Shadow said confused.

Amy grabbed his hand as well and dragged them away. Sonic returned his attention to me.

"You don't trust this Maria, do you, Rouge?" Sonic asked frowning.

"No, I don't. There's no way that that could actually be her. Maria died Sonic, there's nothing else to say. However, this imposter is putting on quite a convincing act..." I sighed.

In truth, I really didn't know who this person was. It could have been Maria, but at the time, I wanted more than anything for her to be someone else. I was very selfish then. I didn't care if Shadow was happy or not. I wanted him to love me and no one else.

"I don't know, Rouge. She looked like the real deal to me. Why shouldn't we trust her? Besides, if she will lighten Shadow up, then I say we stay out of it." Sonic said as he shrugged his shoulders.

Knuckles then walked ran onto the deck. He stopped abruptly when he saw me.

"I just saw Amy running through the corridor with Shadow and some girl. I can't believe this! Sonic and Amy are together, now Shadow found Maria, even Tails has a girlfriend!" Knuckles said as he crossed his arms.

"Oh, come on, Knuckles. It's not every day when Tails gets to go on an intergalactic adventure and fall in love with a girl." I said smiling.

"Yeah, right. I was wondering when you would finally show up again, Rouge." Knuckles said as he rolled his eyes.

"Did you manage to survive without me, Knuckles?" I asked as I walked toward him.

"Ha! I'm more concerned about how I'm going to survive with you here!" Knuckles laughed.

I really did like Knuckles, but I liked messing with him even more. However, that would later become quite the opposite.

"Shadow and I found Maria on Vulpes, Knuckles. The Matriarchy had taken her there. They turned her into a hedgehog and now Shadow is falling in love with her. It's terrible..." I sighed.

"Oh, well, good for him. He needs someone to shine a little light in his life." Knuckles said laughing.

"Yeah, but why couldn't that have been me?" I said angrily.

"Ha! Looks like you were too slow, Rouge." Sonic laughed.

"I think you're jealous too." Knuckles said smiling.

"What? I'm not jealous of her! Trust me, this girl is just playing with Shadow. You'll see." I said, crossing my arms.

"Well, if you like Shadow so much then why don't you try to save him from this innocent little girl?" Knuckles laughed.

"Fine! I will. I'll find out who she really is, and then Shadow will love me!" I said as I stomped out of the room.

I ran into Shadow and Tails who were standing outside of the dormitory. They were arguing with each other. I heard Tails mention something about Shadow killing a girl that was the sister of his friend. I listened to their rants before interrupting them.

"Where's Maria?" I asked, walking around the corner.

"She is trying on some of Amy's dresses. Tails' friend went with them as well." Shadow said embarrassed.

I walked into the dormitory to find Maria picking out a dress that would fit her. Though, I took particular interest in the fox who I assumed to be Tails' girlfriend. I was at first confused as to why her outfit was similar to the one that was given to me until I realized that she was also a member of the Matriarchy. I noticed that Maria took much joy in Tails' friend. This peaked my curiosity. I walked over to her and introduced myself.

"Hello! I'm Rouge. I helped Shadow rescue Maria. You must be Tails' girlfriend that I've heard so much about." I said smiling.

"Oh! I'm Catharine. Thanks for saving m- Maria. I appreciate it." She laughed.

"So, you seem to be getting along with Maria very well. You know, the Matriarchy had imprisoned her on Vulpes. We broke in to save her." I said confused.

"Oh... Well, I'm no longer part of the Matriarchy. I left to help Miles. Besides, I've found that Maria and I have a lot in common, and everyone here is so friendly!" Catharine said happily.

"Really, even Shadow?" I asked inquisitively.

Maria stared at me and then back to Catharine.

"I- I haven't met Shadow yet, but when I do, I'll... I'll try to forgive him." Catharine said, shifting her gaze between Maria and me.

I immediately knew that Catharine was hiding something from me, perhaps at the consent of Maria.

"That's very sweet of you. I hope that you can teach Shadow a lesson in forgiveness." I said laughing.

Catharine smiled at me and nodded. I walked over to Maria. Amy was helping her out of a dress that was obviously too small for her.

"Hi, Rouge! Did you want to try on some outfits too?" Amy asked excitedly.

"Maria, could I speak with you?" I asked, ignoring her.

Um... Can't this wait until later?" Maria sighed as she pulled the dress off of herself.

She realized that I of course, wasn't going to wait, and handed the dress to Amy. We walked over to a corner of the room.

"What do you want? I don't have time for this! Shadow is waiting for me!" Maria said harshly.

"You seem to like that Catharine girl very much. Why?" I asked inquisitively.

"What? Catharine? She is a sweet little girl and I pity her. I thought that she could use a friend." Maria said confused.

"Listen, Maria, I want to know who you are right now!" I said, growing impatient.

She laughed at me and smiled.

"So that's what this is all about? You're just jealous of me because Shadow fell in love with me at first sight when you've been trying for years to get him to notice you. What a pitiful creature you are. Listen to me, bat girl, I didn't survive five years in captivity by constantly weeping for Shadow. No, I strengthened and resolved myself so that when the day would come that Shadow freed me, I would never be taken away again, and I'm not about to let you of all people separate us." Maria said quietly, making sure that Amy and Catharine didn't hear her.

"Please, Shadow doesn't love you. You're living in a fantasy, girl." I laughed.

"Am I? My grandfather placed a part of my own soul within Shadow. We share a spirit, a heart. There is nothing that can separate us, not even death, as you have seen." Maria said as she crossed her arms.

"Well, talk about soul mates." I said as I shrugged my shoulders.

"Shadow is precious to me beyond anything in the universe. Could you say the same, thief?" Maria asked, realizing that she had struck my nerve.

She was very pleased with herself and she had good reason, mostly because she was right. I did like Shadow, but I loved jewels much more. Her words caused me to realize how selfish I really was. It was then that I knew I would never be able to love Shadow the way that Maria could, but instead of being happy for him, I only used this to allow my selfish desires to grow.

Maria waited for me to reply. She smiled at me and walked back to Amy who was holding another dress for her to try on. I left the room quietly. Ignoring Shadow, I continued down the corridor. I entered the observation deck to find Knuckles staring out into space. I walked over to him and sighed.

"Any luck, Rouge?" He asked.

"No, perhaps she is Maria, Knuckles. I really don't know..." I said as I rolled my eyes.

"Don't give up now, Rouge. It's just hard to judge if someone's an imposter when you never knew that person. Besides, this whole galaxy is shrouded in mystery and secrets. It even feels as if the stars themselves are trying to hide something." Knuckles said as he pondered the heavenly bodies.

"Wow, Knuckles, you've changed a lot since we came here. You're not as... angry." I laughed.

"We've all changed, Rouge. Tails, Amy, Shadow, even Sonic isn't who he used to be." Knuckles said amused.

"I haven't changed any..." I sighed.

"What are you talking about, Rouge? Of course you have." Knuckles said puzzled.

"It's nothing..." I said, turning away from him.

"Rouge, it's fine. You can tell me." Knuckles said as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Knuckles, that's perfect! We can get together and then that will make Shadow jealous. Once he realizes how wrong he was, he'll come running back to me, but it'll be too late because I'll already be yours!" I said happily.

Knuckles blinked at me several times.

"Um... Rouge, do you realize what you just said? You really want to be my... girlfriend?" Knuckles asked in shock.

"Of course I do, Knuckles! This is going to be perfect!" I said as I grabbed his hand.

Shadow and Maria then walked into the room. She was wearing a long white dress that shone brilliantly. Her hair was also fixed in long curls. Shadow obviously thought that she was gorgeous. He was actually truly smiling, something I had not seen him do in a very long time. I quickly grabbed Knuckles and kissed him. He was of course, very shocked. He stared at me for quite a while. Shadow said nothing but crossed his arms.

"Come on, Shadow. Let's go to bed. It's getting late." Maria said as she took his hand.

"Yes... Of course." Shadow murmured.

They left the room and I turned to face Knuckles.

"See you in the morning, Knuckles. I'm going to go spy on them." I said happily.

"What? Rouge, you need to stay out of their business! This isn't going to get Shadow to like you, you know." Knuckles said angrily.

"We'll see about that, Knuckles, but I'm still not giving up on my first mission. I need to find anything that could hint to who this Maria really is." I said excitedly.

I flew off down the corridor, silently following Shadow and Maria. They were laughing with each other as they reminisced about the Ark. I heard Maria mention something about her old bedroom. Apparently, that was where they were going to sleep. It did not take them long to find the room. Maria was quite eager to sleep, it seemed. The room was small, but fortunately it had a high ceiling. I flew in behind them and hung myself up in a dark corner. They did not seem to notice me, for which I was relieved. Shadow sat down on the edge of the bed and Maria sat down in his lap. Neither of them spoke which worried me. Maria then threw her arms around Shadow and kissed him passionately.

"Shadow, I love you." Maria sighed as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Maria, why did you do that?" Shadow asked stunned.

"Because you kept your promise for me, Shadow, even when you thought that I was gone. That means everything to me." Maria whispered to him.

Shadow smiled and held her closer. They laid down together on the bed without using the covers which disturbed me. They said nothing and stared into each other's eyes for what felt like hours. I found myself falling asleep until I was awakened by Shadow's voice.

"Maria, I cannot express, in words, how happy I am to have you back. I never stopped thinking about you. I struggled every day without you, but now that you are here, I realize that it was all worth it." He whispered.

Maria smiled at him and began to cry. Shadow held her closer to his chest. He spoke something softly into her ear that I could not interpret even with my hearing. I hoped that it was just something like "good night," but I knew better than to believe something as foolish as that. They kissed again and fell asleep in each other's arms. I watched them eagerly, waiting for the right time to make my exit. Once I was certain that they were both asleep, I silently left the room.

The next week that followed was quite uneventful. We heard no news about the war, for all we knew, it could have been over. Though, this peaceful week allowed Shadow and Maria's relationship to grow. It seemed as if nothing would come between them. I eventually decided to give up and focus on my own relationship with Knuckles. We enjoyed each other's company, but I would never forget what Maria had told me. I would never be able to truly love anyone and I would never let go of my selfish desires.

However, Shadow's relationship with Maria fell apart by the beginning of the next week. It was something that none of us saw coming, including Shadow. We were all having dinner one night in the dining hall of the Ark. I noticed that Shadow had been particularly on edge the past couple of days. He had not spoken with anyone save Maria. We quietly ate, not looking up from our plates. Shadow then arose, immediately receiving our full attention. Maria stared at him in confusion. Shadow then knelt down to Maria. We all gasped in shock. The air grew tense. Knuckles was sitting next to me. I gripped his hand. My eyes followed every movement that Shadow made as he uncovered a small box. It was blue with white lace. For some reason it looked familiar. Then I remembered that it had been in Maria's room when I was spying on them. Shadow then began to speak in a way that I thought I would never hear escape his lips: he spoke with love and sincere passion.

"Maria, perhaps you remember this." Shadow said as he opened the box to reveal a small silver ring. I looked closely to see that it had the word promise engraved on it. "It was yours. You had been planning to give it to me, but before you could get the chance, it was too late. I found it later when I returned to the Ark. I kept it. It made me feel closer to you, almost as if I could feel your presence with me, but now, you truly are with me, Maria. I want you to have it. Before I met you, I didn't even know what love was. I couldn't love myself until I began to love you. Yes, I do love you Maria, in a way that I never thought I would be able to love anyone. Please, Maria, I want you to have this ring, and I want to spend an eternity with you. I want you to be my wife."

We all stared back and forth between Shadow and Maria. Amy, herself, was already beginning to cry. Though, she would soon be crying tears driven on by a different emotion. Maria looked at the ring and then back to Shadow. She took the ring, threw it at his feet, and left the room without saying a word. We all gasped in horror. I turned away from Shadow as I could not bear to look at him in his grief.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	10. Chapter 10 (Rouge)

Chapter 10 Our Search for Maria Concludes

There was a flash of light and Shadow vanished from the dining room. I had no idea where he could have gone. It was possible that he had even left the Ark itself! I probably would have if I had been in his situation. I searched throughout the Ark for Shadow. I was unable to find him, however, I did run into another person I had been wanting to see: Maria. She turned around to face me.

"What is it you want, thief?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"I want you to apologize to Shadow and marry him!" I yelled angrily.

"Really? I thought that you wanted Shadow for yourself. Did you really give up that easily?" Maria laughed.

"You made Shadow happy, something that none of us could ever do. You never deserved Shadow, but he truly loved you. He offered you his hand in marriage, and you didn't even have the courage to say no! Now, Shadow will never be happy because of you!" I yelled, stomping toward her in rage until we were eye-to-eye.

"And you think that _you _deserve him? Please, you don't care for Shadow, but if you do, then I hope you're as good at stealing hearts as you are jewels." Maria said as she began to walk away.

I could not take it anymore. I allowed my hate and anger to take control of me. I flew at Maria and kicked her in the back, causing her to fall onto her face. Maria jumped to her feet and charged toward me. Without even a sound, she flipped over me and kicked me in the neck, causing me to freeze with pain and fall to my knees. I, of course, had not expected such fierce retaliation from Maria. I didn't even think that she would have the courage to fight back. She fought in a way I had never seen. Her reflexes were as quick as lightning and her movements were as quiet and light as a summer breeze.

Maria grabbed me by my wings and slammed me into the wall of the corridor.

"So, where is Shadow, now? He would come to your rescue if he really cared for you." Maria laughed.

I kicked her off of me and pinned her to the floor with my boot.

"You're the one who needs rescuing, sweetie!" I yelled angrily.

Maria smiled and threw me off of her. I kicked off the wall and flew to hit her. Maria grabbed my shoulders, sending us tumbling down the corridor.

"Forget it, you imposter! Shadow is done with you! You may have fooled him, but I knew that you could have never been the real Maria! You were just using him, weren't you? You're just a Matriarch spy aren't you, sent here to find the location of the Ark so that you could attack us? I bet that you have a fleet on the way here right now!" I yelled through my clenched teeth.

"What are you talking about? I _am _the real Maria. Shadow was just going too fast! Would you marry someone after dating them a week? I've even only been a hedgehog for nine days!" Maria yelled in disbelief.

"Yes, I would have if it was Shadow!" I yelled as tears began to form in my eyes.

I then felt a strong hand grab me and pull me off of Maria. It was none other than Shadow himself. He then pulled Maria to her feet as well. We stared at him speechless, the guilt evident on our faces.

"What is the meaning of this?" Shadow asked, staring back and forth between us.

"Shadow, it was terrible! She attacked me and said that I didn't deserve you! She even called me an imposter!" Maria yelled, pretending to cry.

Shadow obviously did not fall for this.

"Are you serious? Shadow, look at what she did to you! She rejected you, claiming that you two hadn't been dating long enough! You were the only person that she ever cared for! Would the real Maria have done that to you?" I asked outraged.

"You are right, Rouge, she would not have, but for now, be her the Maria that I knew or some other Maria, she professed to love me. Though, after witnessing recent events, it is obvious that she made her profession lightly, without thought or commitment. Despite this, it would seem that it is too dangerous for me to have a relationship with either of you right now." Shadow said as he crossed his arms.

"What? But Shadow!" Maria exclaimed in disbelief.

"No! Leave, now, and settle your dispute as passively as you can. Good night!" Shadow yelled and disappeared.

Maria and I stared at each for a moment. We then stomped off down opposite paths of the corridor. Neither of us looked back.

I walked to the observation deck where I found Knuckles. He stared at me in shock.

"Rouge, are you alright? What happened to you?" Knuckles asked, running to help me.

"I'm fine. I just got into a fight with Maria." I sighed.

"A fight with Maria... and you let her hurt you that badly?" Knuckles asked confused.

"Hey! She's tougher than she looks!" I said angrily.

"I'm sorry, Rouge. I should have been there to help you." Knuckles murmured.

"No, it's fine. I can take care of myself." I said laughing.

"Well, you should get some sleep. You'll be sore in the morning." Knuckles said displeased.

I smiled and kissed him.

"Don't worry about me, Knuckles. Good night!" I laughed.

"Uh... Yeah, see you tomorrow." He said smiling.

If only I had known what was to come, I would have kissed him much longer and even told him how much I loved him. For we would not be seeing each other tomorrow or many a day that would follow. If only I hadn't decided to sleep alone that night, perhaps this could have been prevented, but I wanted to be alone so that I could cry, cry for Shadow and what Maria had done to him, cry out of pity for myself, knowing that I would never be able to truly love someone more than myself or the material things that I treasured, and cry for even coming along on this journey, for if I had not come then Shadow would have never fallen for this trap that had brought him so low.

I undressed myself and wept into my pillow. Though, I wanted no comfort. My grief was self-wrought. I wasn't about to swallow my pride and depend on someone else to help me. This continued for many hours. I could find no rest, nor did I want it. Eventually I heard a sound amidst my tears. It was someone calling my name.

"Rouge. Rouge, are you awake?" It said, followed by a gentle knock.

I wiped away my tears and threw on my robe. I opened the door to find that it was Shadow.

"Rouge, I'm sorry to disturb you at this late hour, but I have a serious problem." Shadow said embarrassed.

"It's fine, Shadow. What is it?" I asked, trying to sound tired.

"It's Maria. She's gone. I've been searching for her all night." Shadow sighed.

"What? We have to find her! She could be trying to escape right now." I said in shock.

Shadow nodded and we ran off down the corridor. We searched throughout the labs and research facilities of the Ark, but found no trace of her. We had now slowed our pace as we searched through the less familiar parts of the Ark.

"Shadow, I'm sorry." I said, my voice echoing throughout the corridor.

He stopped and looked at me in confusion.

"Sorry about what, Rouge? You have done nothing but help me. You helped me find Maria in the past and now you are helping me again." Shadow said smiling.

"No, Shadow, I've been so selfish toward you. I should have just been happy for you when we found Maria, but all I wanted was to get rid of her. You've all changed so much since we came here, but I haven't changed at all." I sighed, looking down at my feet.

"Rouge, just admitting your own faults proves that you have changed. Besides, Rouge, you aren't selfish. You risked your life to help me."

I looked up at him and smiled.

"Thanks, Shadow." I laughed and hugged him.

We continued our search and eventually found ourselves at the door to the central control room.

"I have a feeling that Tails' girlfriend will know what happened to Maria." I said as I walked toward the door.

Shadow nodded and followed me. We entered the control room, however, we did not find Tails but Maria herself! We caught her trying to steal the inter dimensional warp drive! She turned around to see us and ripped the machine out of the control unit. She smiled pleasantly at Shadow.

"Ah! Shadow, I was wondering when you would find me." Maria said laughing.

"Maria, what are you doing?" Shadow yelled in horror.

"She's betraying you, Shadow! Just as she had planned all along!" I yelled, clenching my fists.

"No, Maria, you wouldn't..." Shadow murmured as tears filled his eyes.

"You're right, she probably wouldn't. Only, I'm not Maria. Though there was a time when I liked you, that time has passed. That's right, Shadow! I am Amanda! I doubt that it has been so long as for you to forget about me!" Amanda yelled as she began trembling with anger.

Shadow was stunned. He fell to his knees in despair.

"You should be ashamed, Shadow! After all, you tried to kill me! In fact, you almost succeeded. I was near to death and didn't look very pretty. It was obvious that several medical surgeries would be needed in order for me to live. I decided to have them make me look like Maria so that I could get my revenge upon you. It was quite simple, really. I already knew everything about your past from Neo, the hedgehog that I had mentioned last week. Now, my mother tasked me with crippling your vessel. There will be a Matriarch fleet to intercept you soon." Amanda explained with much pride in herself.

"How could you do this to Shadow? He trusted you. He loved you!" I yelled as tears streamed down my face.

"Well, it looks like he loves _you_, little girl, judging by that outfit of yours, or lack thereof. Unfortunately, I did not come here to deal with you but with Shadow." Amanda laughed.

She threw the warp drive down the chasm that surrounded the Eclipse Cannon's control unit. She then dove at Shadow with speed much like that which she had displayed upon me. They both fell down into the darkness toward the cannon's core. I flew after them with all of my speed. Though it was pitch black, I was able to find them by listening for their movements. I quickly grabbed Shadow before he hit the ground which I was surprised to find, was not metal but stone. I looked around the enormous chamber. I then remembered that this was the cannon's core. The very place where Shadow had fought the Biolizard over two years ago. We flew down into the center of the chamber and waited in silence.

"Where is she?" I murmured.

Almost as if she had heard me, Amanda came running down the wall of the chamber. I began to charge toward her when Shadow grabbed my shoulder.

"This is my fight, Rouge. You've done enough for me." He said sternly.

I had no time to respond as he ran off. They clashed together. Shadow attempted to punch Amanda, but she avoided it and kicked him in his side. I winced as Shadow fell back onto the ground. Amanda tried to attack him once more, however, Shadow countered and kicked her off of him. He then launched several chaos spears at Amanda. She dodged them, though it was obvious that she was beginning to struggle. Amanda, realizing that Shadow would not be so easy to defeat, attacked me in an attempt to get Shadow's attention. It certainly worked as Shadow grabbed me and teleported us to the observation deck. Thankfully, Amanda had not come with us. Shadow fell to his knees in despair.

"Rouge, I'm so sorry. I should have believed you! It was foolish of me to think that she could possibly be Maria, but she was so convincing!" Shadow yelled in grief.

"It's alright, Shadow. If Amanda had really wanted revenge she would have just found some other way, but we can't just give up now. We have to warn the others." I said urgently.

Just then, three Matriarch ships warped into view from the observation deck. The Ark's alarm quickly went off as it began to fire at the ships. We felt a violent tremor throughout the station as it was fired upon as well.

Tails then came running onto the deck with Catharine.

"What? How did the Matriarchy find us?" Tails asked in shock.

"It's Maria. She is actually Amanda. She must have contacted them during the night." Shadow said regretfully.

"My sister is alive? Where is she?" Catharine asked, overwhelmed with joy.

"She's your sister? No wonder she was spending so much time with you." I sighed.

We were then hailed by one of the Matriarch vessels. I was none other than Miranda herself. Tails stared at her in anger.

"Ah, Miles, I trust that you have accommodated both of my daughters well? I have come to take them back." She said pleasantly.

"No way, mother! I'm staying here with Miles!" Catharine yelled in defiance.

"So be it, Catharine. Then I will kill all of your friends and take you by force." Miranda said frowning.

"Wait! No, I will go with you! Please, don't hurt them." Catharine said as tears formed in her eyes.

Tails stared at her in confusion.

"Don't worry about us, Catharine. We can beat her!" He said as he took her hand.

"I'll stop her. Tails, keep their attention while I sneak on board." Shadow said sternly.

"Wait, Shadow, I'm going with you!" I said as I grabbed his arm.

He stared at me in sadness. He thought for a moment and smiled.

"All right, Rouge, but please stay safe. I wouldn't know what to do if something happened to you." Shadow sighed.

We then disappeared to find ourselves in the cargo hold of Miranda's ship. We quickly found the main corridor and ran to find the bridge. If we met someone in the corridor I would fly up to the ceiling while Shadow disappeared and reappeared when they were gone. It was very efficient and we managed to keep our presence unknown. At least we did until we met Amanda once again. Now she was wearing her Matriarchy uniform. She looked to be in quite a hurry. I guessed that she was heading back to the Ark to retrieve her sister. Unfortunately, Shadow could no longer contain his emotions. He appeared behind Amanda and kicked her in the back. She fell forward and jumped to her feet. For some reason, Amanda was now very terrified of Shadow. Her knees began to tremble as he walked toward her. I jumped down from the ceiling in order to remind Shadow that I was still with him.

"Shadow! What are you doing here?" She asked in shock.

"Not only did you break my heart, but you disgraced Maria and defiled the Ark with your actions. I'm not letting you get away." Shadow said threateningly.

"Shadow, you tried to kill me! How can you not understand the justice behind my acts?" Amanda said confused.

"I only did what I did because I knew what the Matriarchy was planning for the galaxy's fate. I will not let it happen." Shadow said angrily.

"Well, you better hurry, Shadow. The Gaelturi has been reduced to nothing but a band of brigands and pirates. The galaxy is already under our control." Amanda laughed.

Shadow charged toward her, but she ran off down the corridor with lightning speed. I flew as fast as I could to keep up with them, but it was no easy task as I found myself falling behind. By the time I had finally caught back up with them it was too late. Shadow had fallen into a trap. Amanda had lured him into one of the ship's airlocks. Shadow was then encased in an electric field and shocked into unconsciousness. I ran to help him but Amanda knocked me back. She stepped out of the airlock and closed it. The outer door then opened. I watched in terror as Shadow was sucked out of the airlock and drifted into space toward the Ark. I was in a state of utter hopelessness. Shadow was gone and I was stranded on this ship. My hope was then renewed when I saw one of the Matriarch's vessels destroyed by the Eclipse Cannon. The ship's alarm then sounded, warning us to prepare to enter warp.

"It looks like your mission failed, Amanda." I said mockingly.

"Not quite. Your friends won't be going anywhere without their warp drive. We will be back with a larger fleet and they will be destroyed." Amanda said as she braced my hands in cuffs.

She took me to the brig where I was placed in a detention cell. I was so lonely. I thought about Shadow for a while and then thought of Knuckles. I wondered how he would react to Shadow allowing me to be taken captive. I hoped that they would be able to get along, but I knew that they would undoubtedly go on a search to find me.

I was very tired and fell asleep. When I awakened the next day, I was escorted onto another smaller ship by a woman that I did not know. From there, I was taken to a planet where Shadow and I had been on our search for Maria. However, I remembered that this planet was in control of the Gaelturi. It still was, as a matter of fact, and the Matriarchy ship made no sign of retreating. We were met by a Gaelturi hedgehog when we reached the surface. He handed the woman a large case that contained a crystal similar to the one Tails had brought to the Ark. To my horror, I then realized that I was being sold! I could hardly believe it! The Matriarchy had sold me to the Gaelturi! It was then when I knew that this war was no war, but a plot. Though, for what I did not know and as to who designed this scheme, it had to be none other than Miranda or Gael, or perhaps even both of them together.

The Gaelturi hedgehog brought to a ship on which was loaded several other women of different species, though none were foxes. I did not converse with them but sat and pondered my thoughts, wondering what would become of me. The next day we had arrived at our final destination. It was the arctic planet of Carellium. We were not released outside in the hazardous weather but inside the hanger of a large complex. Once we had disembarked the shuttle, we were taken into a large chamber where we each received a number and were recorded into their data files. After waiting several hours, I was finally recorded and given a new outfit.

"Brown? Not exactly my style?" I complained. After being dressed I was released into my cell. It contained two bunks, one of which was already occupied. I paid no attention to my cell mate and fell asleep for I was quite tired.

The next morning I was awakened by the girl sharing my cell. I stared at her in disbelief. It was Blaze the Cat!

"Blaze! I can't believe it! To think that I would be the one to find you, oh Silver will be so jealous!" I laughed.

"Rouge! This is a miracle! I never thought that I would see any of you again, and Silver is here as well? Oh what glorious news you have brought me!" Blaze said excitedly.

"Yes, we are all here! I can explain later, but Silver is looking for you right now. We need to get out of here or find some way to send a message to him!" I said urgently.

Blaze sighed in depression.

"I have only been here for about two and a half months, one of which I have spent here in this prison. I'm afraid that we will have to rely on Silver finding us, but I'm sure that the others will be searching as well, right?" Blaze asked hopefully.

"Of course, Blaze." I assured her.

The force field of our cell shut down and we were ordered to enter the main security hold for a meal and our work assignments. I wasn't sure where to go and so I followed Blaze. The security hold was massive. It was a large dome lit by the electricity that encircled the walls. We made our way to the center of the room where I stopped short. I felt as though my entire body had frozen. I had been overcast by a shadow. Standing before me was no Mobian girl, but a human. I did not know or recognize her, but I knew that it could be none other than Maria Robotnik.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	11. Chapter 11 (Silver)

Chapter 11 A Man of the Sea and Space

Hello! My name is Silver the Hedgehog! Many of you may have forgotten about me since I left back in Sonic's story. Though it has not been so long as for you to forget that I was the reason we started this adventure. I had been two and a half weeks since I departed from the rest of our company on my search for Blaze. My first objective was to find Alfred Nightbaron, who I suspected would know the whereabouts of Blaze since he had found Maria when she first arrived here. In order to find him, I joined the Gaelturi. However, I was disappointed to find that Nightbaron had died in an accident with one of his experiments three years ago. Despite this, I did not give up my search and did what I could to gather information on where she could be during my assignments. Three days after I joined the Gaelturi, I received word that Gael had been captured by Tails. This meant little to me, though I was surprised to find that Tails had joined the Matriarchy even if it had been for such a short time. After Gael was captured, I was ordered to travel to a planet known as Carellium. This was the location where all of the remnants of the Gaelturi were assembling, though under whose order, I could not guess. I felt no loyalty toward the Gaelturi, but obeyed in hope of finding clues to Blaze's disappearance.

I spent two weeks on Carellium as a part of the surface patrol. The planet was an arctic world with constant blizzards. The only structure on its surface was the Arthenhold, a massive steel complex and factory. We would take thirty minute shifts in order to prevent hypothermia. It was quite boring being stationed there. I spent most of my time searching the data records for any clues about Blaze. However, one night someone must have discovered my clandestine acts for I was called into the general's office. It took me a very long time to find the room for I had rarely journeyed into the interior of the massive complex. When I entered the general's office, I was surprised to find it completely empty, or at least I thought it was. The room was so dark that I couldn't see anything. However, there was a presence within the room like a shadow or a force that surrounded me, enveloped my very soul until it felt as if I was beleaguered by darkness itself.

"What is this? Who's there?" I called out, my breaths coming in short gasps.

It became eerily quiet until I heard a sound that grew increasingly louder: laughter. The voice was sharp and twisted, filled with evil and malice. It came from all four walls of the room and burrowed into my thoughts to where I could not ignore it.

"There is no need to explain yourself, friend. You are Silver and you seek that which is lost to you, an old friend, a memory. I am Alfred Nightbaron, the presiding leader of the Gaelturi while my master is away." Nightbaron said composedly. He seemed to be a very proper person and well disciplined.

"What... What are you?" I muttered.

"What am I? _I_ am the Darkness Incarnate, an omnipresent evil. It is what I became after my successful experiment with the Omega Point." He explained.

"Yes... I understand, sir. I came wishing to ask you questions about Maria. Where did you find her when she first arrived here?" I said, mustering the courage to speak.

"I did not find her. A hedgehog named Neo discovered her first. He dwells on the planet, Aradonia. If you have questions about Maria, then go to him first, that is, if you can find him. He has been in hiding since the war began." Nightbaron explained.

"Neo. I'll find him." I said hastily as I ran out of the room.

The relief was incredible. I felt as if I had emerged from a pool of suffocating darkness. I went to the hanger and left Carellium on my ship. I set in the coordinates for Aradonia and took off. When I exited warp I saw, before my eyes, a blue planet, covered entirely by water. I checked the navigation charts to make sure that the coordinates had been accurate. They were, to my displeasure. When Nightbaron told me that Neo had been hiding, I had not expected it to be under water. I landed my ship on the surface of the water. I got out and stood on top of it. The air was fresh and the water calm. I stared out at the horizon wondering how I could find this Neo. Hours passed by while I stared at the night stars. I jumped up when a tremor rocked my ship. I looked over the edge into the water. There was a shadow within its depths that continued to grow larger. I quickly backed away from the edge just before a massive vessel emerged from beneath the ways. My ship was thrown over and I was tossed into the sea. I quickly swam up to the surface. What I saw amazed me! I first thought it to be some sort of sea monster, but it was in fact a submergible vessel made of black steel. The monstrosity made my ship look like a mere toy. I stared at the beast, waiting for the slightest movement. I small hatch then opened on its top. A hedgehog emerged from it. He was not wearing a Gaelturi or a Matriarch uniform, but simply a blue sailor's attire, coat, pants, and boots along with a hat that had the letter "N" printed on it. I hoped that this stood for Neo. He looked at me and then shouted something back into the vessel. Two other hedgehogs surfaced and threw a life preserver out to me. I was pulled in and dragged into the hull of the ship. I then felt us descend beneath the waters. I was escorted to a dining room that contained a large table, several art pieces, and even an organ. There were also windows that lined the walls, revealing the creatures that swam through the currents that the vessel created. There was a hedgehog playing the organ. He turned around to face me and motioned for the other three hedgehogs to leave.

The stranger observed me up and down as if sizing me for an experiment. His fur was black with purple stripes running down his quills. his appearance and stance reminded me of Shadow in a way.

"I do not mean to be blunt, sir, but what were you doing trespassing in my sea?" The stranger asked, placing his hand on his chin.

"I was looking for someone named Neo the Hedgehog." I said confused.

"It's Captain Neo, my friend. You were searching for _me._ I must say that no one has ever been looking for my whereabouts since this war began. That is, if you could even call it a war." Neo said in shock.

"Yes, I was, but I must ask. What are you doing down here at the bottom of the sea?" I asked confused.

"I am here because I have given up on society. Beneath these waters I am not subjected to your rules laws that are required for your so-called _liberty_." He spoke the word with much disgust. "These men that serve me think likewise, but tell me. Why were you searching for me?"

"I heard that you knew a lot about Maria. I want to know where you found her." I said impatiently.

"Found her? Sir, I brought her here in order to save her life. When I brought her to this dimension she was in fact, already dead, but I was able to revive her. Then, a month later, she was taken away and imprisoned by the old empire. Her fate then caused the schism and this war, as you know. There is little else I can tell you concerning her. She is currently imprisoned on Carellium if that means anything to you." Neo explained.

"Carellium? I was just on that planet!" I said in shock.

"Really? And you were not aware of the fact that she was among the one thousand women imprisoned there within the Arthenhold?" Neo said surprised.

"No, I didn't even know that it was a prison!" I said, appalled.

"Then Gael's plan is still in motion. The Matriarch sells their unwanted citizens to the Gaelturi as slaves, any woman that isn't a fox. They all go to the Arthenhold some way or another. The Matriarchy and the Gaelturi are not as bitter toward one another as you might think, my friend." Neo said laughing.

"What do you mean?" I asked inquisitively.

"Gael and Miranda have been using this war as a means to establish their own individual wars. Before the Empire separated, we were ruled by one large council with representatives from each planet. Gael and Miranda however, wanted to subjugate the galaxy to their own rule. After I brought Maria here they collaborated together to create this war, making a pact that they would both equally share halves of the galaxy. Well, you can see how that turned out. Now Gael is powerless and Miranda is taking the entire galaxy for herself. Gael always was and still is a fool. He is getting what he deserves." Neo explained.

"How do you know all of this?" I asked apprehensively.

"Because, sir, I have reached the Omega Point. I know all that passes throughout this universe. How did I reach the Omega Point, you might ask? I did so through a mishap that occurred one hundred years ago, a thousand years in your reckoning. It happened when I was created. My consciousness somehow became linked with the universe. I believe that it almost happened to you all when you entered this dimension, but you awakened to reality before you could fully reach the Omega Point. That is why you have all been acting so strangely. All of you have been somewhat exposed to the true nature of the universe meaning that each of you came close to reaching the Omega Pont." He explained.

"Wait. Who created you?" I asked confused.

"It was a being, a being known as Black Doom. The same that took part in the creation of Shadow. Yes, Shadow and I are brothers. However, when I was created, I ran away to this dimension in order to escape Black Doom who had planned to use me for his wicked purposes. I have been watching over Shadow since his creation, keeping him safe, and yet all the while keeping my identity a secret from him." Neo said proudly.

"Wow! That's amazing! I wonder how Shadow will react to this." I laughed.

"I'm sure that he will be pleasantly surprised." Neo said smiling. "By the way, sir, are you planning to rescue your friend Blaze from within the Arthenhold? She is there as well as another one of your friends. She only recently arrived however." Neo asked concerned.

"She's there too! Oh, I can't believe how stupid I was!" I said angrily.

"It would not matter. You would never be able to free her on your own. I can teleport us there and we can return them to the Ark. However, it would be more efficient to simply liberate the entire prison." Neo said smiling.

"How do you suppose we do that?" I asked laughing.

"Carellium is not naturally so cold and inhospitable. There is an atmospheric control unit in orbit around the planet. My vessel, the Vulitan, is capable of transform into a fully functional battle cruiser, though I had never expected to use it for something like this. Even in space I must answer to the authority of others, and it has been quite some time since I have set my feet upon terra firma." Neo explained.

"Really? You can do that?" I asked amazed.

"Yes, of course. The Vulitan is powered by a Zithonium crystal. It will be able to warp to Carellium. It can hold all of the prisoners though rather uncomfortably. Come with me. I must speak to my helms man." Neo said as he left the room.

I was taken to the bow of the ship where several of the crew were operating the ship's systems. A hedgehog approached us and saluted Neo.

"Lieutenant, prepare for warp. We are going to Carellium to liberate the Arthenhold. Do you know what must be done?" Neo asked sternly.

"Yes, my captain. We will arrive there shortly." The hedgehog said before bowing to Neo and returning to the helm.

We walked back to the dining room and stared out one of the windows as the Vulitan rose to the surface. We took off into space and soon the stars were before my eyes once again.

"This is amazing!" I laughed.

"Some say that the engineer has more trust in his ship than the builder, and the builder has more trust than the captain. I tell you that I am the engineer, builder, and captain of this ship. You can imagine that I have a great deal of trust in it." Neo said smiling.

We warped to Carellium and were immediately intercepted by several Gaelturi vessels.

"My crew will be able to handle them. Let us go to my personal fighter and search for the atmospheric control unit. Then we can go to the planet and find your friend. It would seem that we will be unable to liberate the prison, I'm afraid." Neo sighed.

"My friends and I can do that later. Once we find Blaze we can return to the Ark and plan an attack." I assured him.

He nodded and took me up the main stairway that led to a small hanger. Within was his private ship. We quickly seated ourselves inside of it and took off. The atmospheric control satellite was not far away. Neo destroyed it and we headed down to the planet's surface. Our presence above the system was still unknown to those within the Arthenhold. Due to the weather still being hazardous, Neo teleported us into the complex. It was very quiet which unnerved me. Fortunately, Neo knew his way around the corridors. We ran into two guards who, instead of trying to apprehend us, simply laughed at Neo's outfit. he responded with a singular kick that slammed them both into the wall, knocking them unconscious. We continued running down the corridor until we found ourselves at the cell blocks. Fortune was with us that day as we ran into Rouge. I was very shocked to see her.

"Rouge, I wasn't expecting to see you here. Did you finally get caught stealing something?" I laughed.

"I can't believe my luck, Silver! You came to save Blaze and Shadow came to save me! Though, Shadow, that outfit is very... interesting." Rouge said happily.

"My name is Neo, Captain Neo." He said proudly.

"Neo! You're that guy Amanda was talking about!" Rouge said in shock.

"Amanda... What did she say about me? And it's Captain Neo." He asked smiling.

"There's no time! Blaze is in trouble! They took her away. I'm not sure what they're going to do to her." Rouge said urgently.

"Nightbaron. He's using her for one of his experiments. That is the reason Gael built this. It was so that Nightbaron could create weapons for him. I fear what he could be doing now. We have to stop him!" Neo said hastily and ran off.

He was very fast, especially to be wearing such a cumbersome suit. Then I remembered that he was related to Shadow. Rouge and I tried to keep up with him. We stopped outside of Nightbaron's office. Rouge kicked the door down and we ran inside. It was no different than my first visit. It was empty save the presence that loomed over us.

"She's not here." I said confused.

Neo laughed and held his hand in the air. The room was then flooded with light to reveal an expansive laboratory. However, Nightbaron was indeed a living darkness as he was not destroyed. There were several attendants throughout the lab, working on several physical tasks that he could not perform. I saw Blaze strapped to a table in the center part of the room. She looked at me and gasped in shock. The scientists grabbed weapons and began firing at us. I quickly used my psychokinesis to throw them into a wall. I then ran to Blaze and freed her.

"Silver, I can't believe it! I thought I would never see you again!" Blaze laughed as she hugged me.

"Blaze, I'm so sorry that I let them do this to you." I sighed.

"There's no time! We must return to my ship and leave before the other Gaelturi are alerted to our presence." Neo said urgently.

"Wait! What about Maria?" Rouge asked confused.

"There is no time. We will return later to liberate this prison once you are all back on the Ark." Neo said hastily.

We ran through the corridor to the exit. Once again, I was surprised at how well Neo knew the building's layout. It was not as cold outside as it had previously been, but it was still cold enough to be quite dangerous. We hurried through the snow storm to Neo's ship and took off. Once we had returned to the Vulitan, Neo ordered to set a course for the Ark. We then had some time to speak with one another.

"Rouge explained to me how you were all able to come here and find me. It was quite impressive." Blaze said admirably.

"Well, Tails did most of the work." I laughed as I began to blush.

"What was Nightbaron doing to you, madam?" Neo asked suspiciously.

"I'm not sure, Captain. I believe he was testing some sort of biological weapon for Gael. I sounded terrible. It was a weapon that he thought would turn the tide of this war." Blaze said warily.

"I see. Then Gael's _peace _throughout the galaxy will soon be accomplished. I suggest that you all return to your world as soon as you can before this situation gets even worse." Neo sighed.

"Well, we're not leaving without Maria any way, and while we're at it, we might as well put a stop to this." I said smiling.

"So, Neo, how did you know Amanda? You spoke as if you did." Rouge said inquisitively.

"We were friends once. We shared a fascination with the sea. However, after Nightbaron did what he did to her, we stopped talking. I never understood why. She simply did not want to see me anymore. My days without her have never been the same. I do not feel complete." Neo said sadly.

We did not speak to him again. He sat down at the organ and began to play. Once we had found the Ark, Neo established communications with Tails. We were then able to teleport onto the observation deck. Everyone was there except Shadow. Though, a girl that I had never seen before was now with Tails, I guessed that it was Catharine, his partner that had aided in his capture of Gael. They were all very happy to see us return. Knuckles ran up to Rouge and embraced her. Tails and Catharine immediately began speaking with Neo about the Vulitan.

"Wait. Where's Shadow?" Rouge asked confused.

"He left earlier today to continue his search for you and Maria." Knuckles sighed.

"I must go to him. Miles, sir, I am aware that your warp drive has been damaged. you can use the one from my ship. Go to Carellium as soon as you can. Shadow and I will meet you there. The last days of this galaxy are drawing near. We must act now and stop Gael and Miranda before they destroy each other. Silver knows the coordinates for the planet. Do not delay. Each moment that passes is a last, desperate gasp of air for our race." Neo said urgently.

He then disappeared in a flash of light.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	12. Chapter 12 (Silver)

Chapter 12 A Brief Reunion

Once Neo had left, Tails began preparing the Ark to leave for Carellium. The Vulitan had already left after giving us their warp drive. Apparently they had a spare. I suspected that Neo had other intentions for his ship that I saw as a masterpiece among space and sea engineering. I was saddened by his sudden departure, but I knew that his first duty was to his claimed to be brother, Shadow. I followed Tails to the control room and put in the coordinates for the planet. I then returned to the observation deck. Blaze was standing alone, staring at the stars. I walked over to her and she smiled at me. I couldn't believe my fortunes in finding Neo. He had been a tremendous help. I was very happy to be with Blaze again after nearly two years. I had felt so lonely and lost without her.

"Silver, thank you for rescuing me. It was very noble of you." Blaze said gratefully.

"It wasn't much, Blaze. Neo did most of the work. I just couldn't get over how stupid it was that I didn't save you earlier, but at least your back now. That's all that matters." I sighed.

She smiled and held my hand.

"It's fine, Silver. You did all that you could. I thought that perhaps we would never see each other again, though I clung to what little hope I had that this would not be true." Blaze said, trying to comfort me.

"I know what you mean, Blaze, but I let them mistreat you. I will never forgive myself for that." I said sadly.

"Silver, I only spent about three months in the Arthenhold. It wasn't as dreadful as you might think. Maria kept me company as well. We have to go back for her soon. She suffered more than any of us." Blaze said sternly.

I nodded.

"We'll free all of them, Blaze." I assured her.

There was a long moment of silence as the Ark entered warp.

"Silver, what are we going to do when we return to our world?" Blaze asked concerned.

"Oh, we can do whatever you want, Blaze. I'm sure that our lives will be very different when we return though. It looks like everyone has been pairing up while I was away. Even Sonic seems to like Amy. It is very strange..." I said confused.

"I see... Silver, we have been friends for all of our lives. Perhaps we should follow their example." Blaze said quietly, obviously embarrassed.

"What? Do you mean that we should... date?" I asked in shock.

"Well, we have been through a lot together and after being separated I realized how much you truly meant to me. I'm sure that spending two years without me must of been much more difficult than any enemy we have faced." Blaze said frowning.

"Yes, it was very difficult, but now that you're back it was all worth it." I laughed.

"Thank you, Silver." She said blushing.

We then held hands and stared into each other's eyes. We leaned in close, and I prepared to kiss her, however, the Ark exited warp and we were thrown back by the sudden stop.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" We both said in unison.

Tails and Catharine ran onto the observation deck.

"We've arrived at Carellium, Silver. We are all going to our ship. Would you like to accompany us?" Tails asked hopefully.

"Yes, of course. We'll be right there." Blaze said, cutting in front of me.

We followed Tails and Catharine to the hanger. There, Sonic and the others were patiently waiting.

"Is everyone ready?" Tails asked excitedly.

We all nodded in agreement. We boarded Tails' ship with some difficulty. However, I stayed on the outside of the ship with Sonic and Knuckles. We took off out of the hanger into the space above the planet. The Gaelturi, not suspecting us to leave the Ark, concentrated all of their firepower upon it. The Ark's defensive systems immediately went online and it began to fire upon the Gaelturi ships. Several smaller fighters pursued us, though Tails outmaneuvered them with ease. He began flying so fast that we had much trouble in holding on to the ship. Within a few minutes, we had landed on the surface of the planet. It was still of course, covered with snow and completely barren. We left the ship and Knuckles smashed an opening through the gate of the Arthenhold. We were immediately intercepted by several guards bearing pistols and swords. Their weapons were very similar to that of the Matriarchy. I used my psychokinesis to rip the weapons from their hands while Sonic and Knuckles took them out. Blaze then joined my side once we had cleared the entrance. We were shortly joined by Amy, Rouge, Tails, and Catharine. We continued down the corridors, all the while fighting the countless guards that so viciously defended their final stronghold.

We came to a large rounded room. It looked to be the main holding area for the prisoners though it was entirely deserted. Entirely deserted that is, save one man. It was none other than Gael himself. Tails and Catharine were particularly displeased to see him.

"Well, it was very courteous of you all to make yourselves present to witness the destruction of all life as you know it." Gael said quite amused.

"We left you imprisoned, you wretch! How did you escape?" Catharine yelled angrily.

"What does it matter? You've already lost this war, Gael! Stop this fighting!" Knuckles yelled

"My friends, I was never truly imprisoned. Miranda and I had a secret alliance together. This war never existed, but even if it had, _I_ would be the victor. Miranda is dead, and soon all of the women of the Matriarchy will join her." Gael said coldly.

Catharine fell to her knees in despair. Tails quickly grabbed her and helped her stand.

"My mother... is dead?" Catharine murmured in disbelief.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Though, it was not my hand that stayed her life. However, her death is meaningless. She would have been dead by tomorrow as you all shall be. But enough of this. Follow me. There is another one of your friends waiting for you in my laboratory. Along with two others who I cannot, as of yet, distinguish from friend or foe. Come now. Let us not keep them waiting." Gael said with mock sadness.

"You monster! Release Shadow now!" Rouge yelled in anger.

"I plan to do so, little girl. Though it may not be in a manner that pleases you." Gael said smiling.

We may no attempts to resist him. We followed Gael into his laboratory. Nightbaron's presence, at first, clouded our vision. Gael quickly ordered him to allow us through. Once we were able to pierce through the darkness, not three but four figures were revealed to us. One was that of Shadow and the other Neo. However, I did not recognize the two who remained. They were both women and looked quite similar. One, much taller than the rest, stood beside Shadow while the other, another hedgehog, stood with Neo.

Catharine cried out "Amanda," and ran to the hedgehog girl. I could not believe my eyes, but I could think of no other explanation. The woman standing with Shadow was none other than Maria Robotnik.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	13. Chapter 13 (Shadow)

Chapter 13 The Dreams of Two Lovers

My name is Shadow the Hedgehog and I am the world's ultimate life form. My quest to find Maria began long ago with Rouge, but now, it was at last coming to an end. I awakened from unconsciousness on the Ark. I ran to the observation deck to find that the Matriarch fleet was gone. However, I assumed that Rouge was also gone as she was not waiting for me to reawaken. I soon realized that Amanda had taken Rouge captive, though as to where she could be, I did not know. I decided that Vulpes would be the best place to search first.

I teleported to the planet. I was back in the capital city where Rouge and I had just been a little over a week ago. I did not know how long I had been unconscious, but I knew that Amanda had to be somewhere on the planet. Once I found her she could tell me where Rouge was, and then I would decide what to do with her. Fortune was with me that day when I quickly found a group of foxes who were gossiping about her failure to rescue Catharine.

"I can't believe that Miranda left her off so easily! Does she not care for her daughter?" One asked in disbelief.

"Indeed. Amanda returned like a hero and now she's having a nice relaxing vacation on the green belt! It simply isn't fair." Another complained.

I did not stay to listen to the rest of their conversation for I was eager to avenge my broken heart. I ran with full speed toward the equator of the planet. There was a vast ocean here that was surrounded by different residential complexes. However, there was a private villa. I guessed that this was where Amanda had gone. It was obvious that the Matriarchy was assured that they would soon conquer the galaxy as there was no security protecting the rural part of the planet. It did not matter to me. I was determined to find Rouge. Nothing was going to stop me now. That is, until I was grabbed and dragged down into the sea by some machine. I opened my eyes and saw before me a giant monstrosity of metal that I was being pulled toward. I was taken beneath the vessel and then up into it. I immediately broke free and attempted to dive back into the ocean when I was seized by a powerful hand. I turned around and saw what I at first thought to be a reflection of myself. However, I would find that this man and I shared little in common outside of appearance and family ties. The hedgehog _was _somewhat similar to me, in that his fur was black and he possessed stripes in his quills though they were purple. He was also wearing a navy uniform.

"There is no cause for alarm, Shadow. My name is Captain Neo and I am your brother." He said sternly.

"Release me at once, or I'll destroy you and your ship!" I yelled.

"So you do not believe me? Then I will make you!" Neo said furiously.

He then grabbed my head and I began to witness several visions from my past. I was familiar with most of them, but some even I could not recognize. The fact that this man knew things about my past that even I was ignorant of shocked, even frightened me to a point. I then realized that this man had to be related to me in some way.

"I do not understand... Who are you?" I asked dumbfounded.

"I am the last living family that you have, Shadow. I was created by Black Doom a millennia ago. However, I became stronger and smarter than him by reaching the Omega Point and escaped to this dimension. This is my vessel and home, the Vulitan. I built it in order to escape this war of greed and madness. Unfortunately, it would not have mattered who won the war, the galaxy would still suffer the same fate. However, if Gale is able to fulfill his plan before his execution, the entire universe could be silenced forever. Even the stars would cease to shine and all light will be extinguished as everything would be plunged into darkness. Nightbaron already came very close to achieving that terrifying goal." Neo explained.

"Why did you take me here? I'm on my own mission." I said angrily.

"Our missions are directly related, Shadow. I wish to destroy both the Matriarchy and the Gaelturi, but I cannot do it without you." Neo said smiling.

"As long as destroying the Matriarchy means destroying Amanda then I'm fine." I laughed.

"You will not harm her as long as I am in command of this vessel. You are subject to my laws here, Shadow, where no other laws besides natural ones are upheld. Amanda will lead us to Gael and ultimately, her mother. You and I will return to the surface now, and retrieve her." Neo said warily.

"She tried to kill me, and took my friend! I'm not going to spare her just because you have authority here beneath the sea!" I yelled.

"I knew more about your past than you yourself did! Do you think that I am unaware of what her death would cause? If you want this war to end as quickly as possible then you will not touch her!" Neo shouted, grabbing my arm.

"Fine..." I muttered.

We dove back into the sea and swam back up to the surface. We walked along the beach together for some time until we found Amanda lying on the sand. She was wearing a bathing suit. She was obviously not expecting to see us. She jumped up and stared at us.

"Neo, is that really you? And Shadow, what... what are you doing here?" Amanda asked nervously.

"Don't worry, Amanda. You have nothing to fear, Amanda. Shadow will not harm you as long as you come with us without resistance." Neo said, holding out his hand to her.

"Neo, what's going on? What are you planning? " She asked, crossing her arms.

The Vulitan then broke the surface of the ocean. Amanda stared at it in awe.

"Come with us, Amanda. There is much to discuss." Neo said sternly as he offered his hand once more.

She took it and we swam to the Vulitan, though she still kept her distance from me. Once we were on board, the Vulitan dove under the Sea once more. We entered the dining room and Neo opened the port windows. Amanda ran to one and pressed herself against the glass.

"Wow! Neo, I can't believe this! It's like nothing I've ever seen!" She gasped.

Though, the deep sea should have been very dark, the light produced by the Vulitan's Zithonium crystal radiated throughout the hull of the ship, giving the water an electric blue color that revealed several aquatic species that shone with brilliance. Neo walked over to Amanda. He threw a towel over her shoulders and gazed out of the window.

"Neo, it's just like we've always dreamed; our... your own world under the sea where no one can tell us what to do! Though, I gave up on such foolish fantasies. I thought that they were only for children." Amanda laughed.

"It is just as much your world as it is mine, Amanda. Without you, I would have never seen this dream fully realized. Would you like to see the rest of our ship?" Neo said smiling.

"Of course!" Amanda said excitedly.

They left the dining room, leaving me to my lonesome. I began to ponder who this Neo could truly be and what his intentions actually were. If he knew the fate that awaited this galaxy than why was he not in a hurry to stop it? I could not guess, for his mind was impossible to interpret. I was not even sure if he had told me the truth earlier. There was no proof, and if he had reached the Omega Point then he would have full awareness of the universe, knowing my past whether he were related to me or not. I sat down in a chair and pondered this for some time. Who was this man of the sea, and why had I never heard of him before? How could he have constructed this massive ship in secret, and what was his own intent for the galaxy? As for some of these questions, I would find answers, though some would remain shrouded in darkness and mystery.

I decided to pursue these questions by searching throughout the Vulitan. I eventually found Neo's room near the helm of the vessel. It was very plain and poorly lit. There were no pictures or personal items to hint at any sort of past. However, there was a small side table next to his bed. There was a drawer within it, though it was locked. I began fumbling with the lock when my hand was grabbed by Neo. He stared at me apprehensively.

"It would be wise for you to stay out of my room, Shadow. There is nothing here that would strike your interest." Neo said, sternly.

I nodded to him and left the room. I then looked over my shoulder to see Neo take from his coat pocket, a small key, open the drawer, check its contents, and close the door, locking it back. I then walked with Neo to the helm of the ship where Amanda was standing, observing the several apparatuses of the Vulitan. She looked at me for a brief moment and returned her attention to learning the ship's functions. Did she one day hope of piloting this immensely complicated vessel as she would a frigate of the Matriarchy's fleet? I wondered. My assumption was nothing short of the truth. She had been given an outfit similar to that of Neo's though she did not wear a hat of his fashion, but allowed her hair to flow down over her shoulders.

It was obvious to me now, that if I wanted to find out about Neo's past, I would have to become his friend, and if I wanted to become his friend I would thus have to forgive Amanda. Besides, she was the greatest clue I had as she knew him better than any one. I only hoped that she would accept my repentance. I stepped toward her and bowed deeply.

"Amanda, I must apologize for my behavior toward you. It has been most atrocious as of late." I said shamefully.

She stared at me for some time and smiled, though Neo eyed me with caution.

"No, Shadow, I should be apologizing to you, Shadow. You may have harmed me physically, but I harmed you emotionally. Often, it is easier to recover from bodily damage than it is to recover from emotional. I am sorry. It was wrong of me to desire vengeance." Amanda sighed.

Neo then left the room without saying a word. Where he was going, I could not guess. Neither did Amanda show any concern for where he was off to.

"How long have you known the Captain, Amanda?" I asked inquisitively.

"Oh, I've grown up with Neo. We've been together since I was a little girl." She said happily.

"And how old are you, if I may ask?"

"twenty-three, nearly twenty-four." She said awkwardly.

"And how old, would you say, is Neo?"

"He is twenty-six." She said after some thought.

"Interesting... Are you aware of his association with the Omega Point?" I asked.

"I don't want to hear about that absurd philosophy, Shadow! Yes, he is one of two individuals in the known universe to have reached the Omega Point, but what does it matter? He is no less natural than we are!" Amanda said, growing hot with anger though as to why, I could not guess.

"If you do not mind me asking, who is the other-"

"I do mind, Shadow! I'm not going to be interrogated on my own ship!" She yelled shrilly.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to upset you." I said, trying to calm her down.

She inhaled deeply and smiled.

"It is fine, Shadow. You are simply ignorant of the situation, though I would consider that a blessing." She sighed.

I nodded and bowed before leaving the helm. I returned to the dining hall where I found Neo playing the organ. He stopped when I entered and turned to face me. His face was solemn with little expression.

"Do you yet still refuse to trust me, Shadow?" He asked amused.

"It takes more than words to simply earn my trust, Captain." I said smiling.

"A wise statement, friend, and as it should for all of us. My cook has prepared a meal for us. You may eat, if you desire, but I shall wait for Amanda. I will entertain you with my music if you desire, but I'm certain that you would rather me answer the questions that are so evidently on your mind." Neo said satisfied.

"Indeed. Have you truly reached the Omega Point? And if you have then are you yet mortal? Amanda spoke of you as being twenty-six when you claimed to be over a millennia in the past." I asked, not relenting from my brisk accusations.

"If I did not know the fate of this galaxy then would I be acting with such calm and disinterest as I am now?" Neo asked, refusing to answer me directly.

"You were concerned earlier today." I objected.

"Yes, but other concerns were intertwined with it. I was more worried with the fate of Amanda, but it too is connected with the fate of the galaxy; consequently, it earned my attention as well." Neo explained.

"Then why are we not acting now to stop Miranda? Do you fear damaging your relationship with Amanda?" I asked.

"No, Shadow, once Amanda discovers her mother's... shameful intentions she will, in fact, wish harm to befall her own mother as any daughter would in her situation." He said calmly.

"And you will not warn her of this?" I speculated.

"I do not wish for her to be distraught and haste to seek payment for her mother's selfish acts. As for you other questions about my age, I will tell you that I am indeed mortal, but it was my choice." Neo explained.

"You chose to be mortal? Why?" I asked confused.

"Why did I choose mortality? I did so for you, Shadow. You are the only family that I have as of yet. You must understand that when one first reaches the Omega Point, they are removed from their body and join with the universe itself as one consciousness. However, I foresaw your creation and how our creator would use you for his own selfish purposes. Because of this, I wanted to protect you and physically watch over you in order to keep you safe, for I could do very little as merely a consciousness that dwelled within the Void. It is fortunate that I did so for I saved Maria from death." Neo explained.

My eyes widened as my mind returned to Maria whom I had briefly forgotten to my own shame.

"You saved Maria?" I asked shocked.

"Indeed. I brought her to this dimension and revived her. Despite my efforts, she was taken from me and then this struggle began. I then built this mighty vessel to escape the war. I would have taken Amanda with me, but she was subdued by her mother who sowed seeds of hatred for men within her heart that blossomed rapidly. Because of this, she was one of the first to join the war, and our dreams of living beneath the seas escaped her mind for some time at least." Neo said rather sadly.

"Why spend such time and resources on building this haven? Could you not have simply returned to your state of disembodied consciousness with the universe? Indeed you would have done so after Maria had been saved and I was in capable condition?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"Yes, I could have, but I refused to do so, for I did not wish to leave Amanda. Though, it seemed that her heart had been so embittered that she would never care for me again, I knew it to be false." Neo sighed.

"Then, captain, if you were to die in this body, whether it be from the hands of another, or by the wearing of time, would you then perish entirely, never able to return to your universal consciousness?" I asked worried.

"That is correct." He said with a brief nod.

"And does Amanda know this?"

"Yes."

"And yet, she allows you to remain in this vulnerable form?" I asked confused.

"Of course! Whether I made myself immortal, as you are, is of no consequence, for I cannot manipulate the destinies of others. Meaning, that Amanda would inevitably die and I would be left to my lonesome, and why would I want that? If I cannot save her then I will doom myself. This is the fate that I have chosen, and it was no difficult choice." Neo said, somewhat amused at my question.

"That is most noble of you. Your actions demonstrate a true, selfless love. Do you love her?" I said with praise.

"I love all creation within the universe with equality. Though, I will not deny that she is special. I often wonder if the Creator put greater effort in creating her. For she alone accepted me as a friend and she has already professed to love me as well. She did so many times before the war began." Neo said smiling.

"She claimed to love me as well, but you of course saw what happened to that." I said hotly.

"You should forget your animosity towards her, Shadow, for she is willing to do so for you. However, be silent now, for she approaches." Neo said hastily.

We turned to face the door. I soon opened and Amanda entered. She smiled at us and we bowed in unison.

"I apologize for keeping you both waiting. You must be starved!" Amanda said, walking toward the table.

Neo pulled her chair out and waited for her to seat herself before pushing it back under the table.

"Thank you Neo," she laughed, "The Vulitan is even more magnificent than I imagined!"

"I will not deny that I was impressed by my own craftsmanship as well." Neo said as he seated himself across from her.

"Join us, Shadow. You are our guest." Amanda said happily.

"I'm not hungry." I said flatly.

"He does not require sustenance, Amanda." Neo said, folding his napkin across his lap.

"Oh... Of course." She said awkwardly.

I sat down on one of the sofas and listened to their conversation.

"Amanda, tomorrow, we will go to see your mother." Neo said sternly.

"What? But why? She will kill you both!" Amanda said in shock.

"She will not harm us, and there is much that you must learn from her." Neo said warily.

"I understand..." She sighed.

They ate quietly in front of the port window. It was quite a scene, to be able to have dinner and gaze out into the depths of the sea. Once they had finished, a crew member entered and cleaned the table. Neo and Amanda then sat down together in front of the organ. He began to play a soft and quiet song while she leaned her head on his shoulder. After an hour or so, he ceased his performance and they laid down together on the sofa opposite of me. I waited for them to fall asleep and walked over to Neo. Unfortunately, the pocket that contained the key was covered by Amanda's hand. I carefully lifted her hand up, removed the key and then lowered it back down. I quietly left and returned to Neo's room. I inserted the key into the drawer. It clicked with satisfaction and I opened it. There was very little within it: A pocket watch, a sapphire ring, and two folded pieces of paper. I first observed the pocket watch. Within it, behind its glass frame, was a picture of Neo and Amanda kissing on a beach. However, Amanda was still a fox of course in this photo. I wondered if it upset Neo that I had changed her so. I was surprised to see this and it made me further question who Neo was, for he did not seem like the person to share such a physical relationship with another. Perhaps he was more mortal than I had thought. I then looked at one of the pieces of paper. It was actually a letter written to Amanda from Neo. It read as follows:

Dear Amanda,

It has been almost ten years that we have known each other. These past years have been the greatest of my existence. However, I regret to inform you that I will be leaving tomorrow. I shall sail away and never return. I am simply not content with the laws of this world, and now I am going where I have no laws to obey but those that are natural. Farewell, Amanda. May the waves help to carry you through your life, and not those laws that you must obey to have liberty.

Love, Captain N.

What could this mean? I pondered. Was this a letter that Neo had been planning to give to her, or had he already done so and somehow he was able to find it again? None could guess. I took the other letter and read it as well. It was as follows:

Dear Neo,

Please, do not leave me, Neo! Is it my fault? What did I do wrong? I can change. I promise! Please, let me go with you! I do not care what my mother will do to me. We can sail away together and live happily where no one can tell us what to do, just like we've always dreamed! I'm on my way to our beach right now. Meet me there, okay?

With much love, Amanda

What did all of this mean? Was Neo not happy with Amanda at some point in the past? Why would he leave without letting her go with him? None of it made sense.

"Still unable to restrain yourself from my only personal belongings, I see." A voice said from behind me.

It was Neo of course.

"Captain, I apologize... I-"

"Silence! The time has arrived. Come to the helm. We are going to return to the capital now." Neo said sternly.

"Neo, I did not realize that-"

He left and walked toward the helm. I quickly followed him.

"Neo, what are you doing? There is no need to be so rash!" I yelled.

"Helmsman, prepare to surface and take off! We make for the capital at once! Now is the hour that this war must end!" Neo said, folding his hands behind his back as he stared out through the view port.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	14. Chapter 14 (Shadow)

Chapter 14 A Gleam of Hope Amidst the Darkness

The Vulitan surfaced the ocean and took to flight. We soared through the skies toward the capital. Neo would not speak to me and so I returned to the dining room where Amanda was staring out the windows down at the surface below. She turned to face me when I entered.

"You must really miss Maria, don't you, Shadow?" She asked sadly.

"Of course. I have never stopped thinking about her. She was the only friend I ever had." I said somewhat surprised.

"I am very sorry about what I did to you, Shadow. I was quite stupid of me to be so determined on seeking revenge." Amanda sighed.

"No, I understand you want for revenge. I have walked that path before..." I said quietly.

She smiled and looked down at herself.

"I know that it's all over now, but ever since then I've often wondered what would have happened if I had said yes." Amanda laughed.

I stared at her and began to blush.

"No, it is better that you revealed yourself. If you had pursued that charade even further, there's no telling what could have happened between us, and the shame I would have felt then would be much worse than what I felt when you turned me down." I explained.

"Oh, I guess you're right." She said, rolling her eyes.

"Amanda, what is your mother going to do when she discovers that you have joined us? I can't imagine it being very pleasant." I asked concerned.

"I don't know, Shadow, and I really don't care. Neo means a lot more to me than the Matriarchy, but I never could find him. My mother discouraged me from making wider efforts in my search and eventually I was caught up in this war." She laughed.

"I am sorry to hear that. I suppose we have both toiled in searching for our friends. It pleases me to see that you have reunited with Neo." I said smiling.

"Yes, I suppose you're right. Don't worry, Shadow. We'll find Maria very soon." She promised.

Neo entered the room. He smiled at Amanda and then turned to face me.

"We are above the city. The Vulitan is too large to land in their air field. I will teleport us down to the surface." Neo explained.

After he had teleported us to the city, Amanda got us permission to enter the Matriarchy's military headquarters. There we would find Miranda, though as to why Neo really wanted to see her, I hadn't the slightest idea. I began to question his plan and just how the three of us would stop the Matriarchy.

"Neo, what _are_ we exactly going to find here?" I asked.

"You will see... soon enough." He murmured.

We continued walking down the corridor, unchallenged by anyone we met. They seemed to have little concern for us since we were with Amanda. Once we had found Miranda's office, she seemed anxious to enter. Neo opened the door and we stepped into the room. Miranda was sitting at her desk. She studied us carefully.

"Is that you, Neo? This quite a surprise. What are you doing with my daughter? I thought I told you to stay away from her, did I not?" She said, rising from her chair.

"You did say that, yes, but your daughter was walking the wrong path toward her own destruction, the path on which you set her." Neo said angrily.

"I haven't the faintest idea of what you are talking about! Amanda, explain this to me at once before I throw you and your friends out!" Miranda yelled shrilly.

Neo then unfolded a piece of paper, one the letters I had found in his room. It was the one that he had written to Amanda, discussing his departure from the surface world.

"This letter that I found, I never wrote it. You forged it and gave it to Amanda in hopes that she would give up on me and hate men as you do." Neo said calmly.

Amanda stared at her mother in shock.

"Yes, I did in fact write that letter. She was going to squander herself on you! I will not allow my daughter to be in the hands of any wretched man, especially not some insane, paranoid sailor, and a hedgehog at that!" Miranda yelled furiously.

"Mother... You ruined our relationship so you could turn me into a monster? Because of you, I missed seeing our dreams first fulfilled! I missed escaping this war with Neo and spending every day with him! I missed possibly already marrying him and having children of my own all because of your selfish desires for intergalactic domination! I can't believe that you would do this to me, to your own daughter!" Amanda cried.

"And I can't believe that I raised such a miserable daughter. I had such high hopes for you and your sister, but you have both failed me utterly. Leave now. Get out of my sight! If you truly want to spend the rest of your life with this sea dog then go, but I never want to see you again." Miranda said coldly.

"Mother, please... I-"

"How dare you speak to her with such cruel malice! If this is how you treat your own children then I cannot imagine how you would treat an entire galaxy of people who already suffer day by day! Your acts are vile and wicked as they always have been!" Neo yelled as he threw off his hat and stomped towards Miranda. She then pushed a button on her desk and Neo fell to the floor. A bolt of electricity had been sent through his body. I could not tell if had killed him or not. It had all transpired so quickly and silently. Amanda screamed and ran to Neo. She kneeled down to him and began to weep loudly. I kneeled down with her and tried vainly to awaken Neo. He did not stir. Amanda then jumped through the air and tackled her mother to the floor. Miranda threw her off and jumped to her feet.

"I should have known you would try and rebel against me. You simply do not understand the power that we could possess together, my dear. An entire galaxy submitting to your will, billions of lives at your mercy, it is a wonderful feeling." Miranda laughed.

"You're insane! You want to enslave every last man in the galaxy! I won't let you! No one deserves such a fate as that which you have promised them!" Amanda yelled.

"And do you not think that the Gaelturi are doing the same to women? Gael has even more radical plans in store for the galaxy." Miranda asked appalled.

"Then I'll stop him too! We'll find his last refuge and destroy it!" Amanda yelled as she charged toward her once more.

They locked arms in a vicious frenzy to gain purchase upon the other.

"I'd like to see you try." She laughed.

Miranda grabbed her daughter around the waist and threw her against the wall. Amanda kicked off of the wall and slammed into her mother. Miranda was thrown backwards. Her body broke through one of the windows in her office. She would have fallen to her death if she had not been able to grab onto the ledge. Amanda ran to the ledge. She grabbed her mother's hand and tried to pull her back up. I ran to help her, but she withdrew her hand from mine.

"Give me your other hand, mom, now!" She yelled.

Miranda smiled at her and sighed.

"You are so weak. Why do you attempt to save me when I am prepared to die? What did I do wrong when I raised you?" She murmured.

"You did everything wrong, mother! You never allowed me to leave the house save for academic purposes. You never let me socialize with anyone. I had to sneak out to meet Neo! Then you treated Catharine the same way and look at what has happened to her! Please, mother, I still love you! We can start over. I believe that people can change." Amanda begged her.

"No, there is no hope for me, my dear." She sighed.

"There _is _hope for you, mother! What would father do if he were still here? My memories of him may be faint but they are there. He loved you! He truly did love you! He would be holding your hand right now, comforting you! And you would believe in him, believe in his strength and determination to help you through this!" Amanda yelled in defiance.

"You are right, Amanda. He would have helped me get my life straight. He adored me. If only I could have returned such feelings. Though in my blindness, I could not. I am sorry, Amanda. Tell your sister that I am sorry as well. Thank you for giving me a second chance, but I'm afraid that this is good bye. Neo is alive. I hope that you are able to live a wonderful life with him, dear, and do not follow my likeness." Miranda said as tears formed in her eyes.

She then released Amanda's hand and began plummeting toward the ground. Amanda screamed in terror. I jumped out of the window and ran down the side of the building. I then propelled myself off of the building and caught Miranda in mid air. We then landed on the ground and I helped her to her feet.

"Why... Why did you do that?" She asked in shock.

"Amanda wished for you to have a second chance and so you shall have it. I would not let you perish needlessly when you are offered redemption." I said solemnly.

"Do you not understand, Shadow? I am the leader of an empire that I must lead. What will happen if I step down? Amanda will not take my position and Catharine doesn't even want anything to do with the Matriarchy." Miranda laughed.

"Perhaps it is time that the Matriarchy should dissolve and allow each planet to rule itself independently." I said smiling.

She stared at me for a moment and nodded.

"I believe that you are right, but how will my people react to such a radical and sudden decree?" She pondered.

Amanda then ran out of the building and embraced her mother.

"Oh, mom, you're alive! Thank you, Shadow! Thank you so much!" Amanda cried.

"Dear, please, you have to understand. I want to change. I truly do, but I have an entire empire that depends on my guidance. There is nothing that I can do." Miranda sighed.

"Sure there is! You could fake your death and disappear with us on Neo's ship. Then you could change your name and your appearance somewhat and no one would ever find out that you simply left due to your morality." Amanda said excitedly.

"Yes, I suppose that that would work. Neo should be awake soon. Let us return to him and leave at once." Miranda said smiling.

They ran back into the building.

"Shadow, aren't you coming with us?" Amanda asked confused.

"I'll be there shortly. There's something that I must attend to first." I said nodding.

Once they were gone I teleported myself into the city's prison and found Gael's cell. I specifically remembered its location from my previous visit with Rouge. I knew that Gael obviously still had Maria in his custody, and I was determined to find out where.

Gael smiled when he saw me and arose from his bed.

"Well, Shadow, I hadn't expected to see you again. I'm guessing the Maria you found was false. I knew it would be so. The Matriarchy are powerless to my schemes." Gael laughed.

"Indeed they are and they will soon become quite weakened. Miranda is dead, killed by her own daughter. The Matriarchy will plunge into chaos and fall apart without a leader." I said laughing.

"Well, how convenient! I suppose that you have come to your senses and have decided to free me now that you understand who you should side with in this conflict?" Gael asked hopefully.

"I will release you, but only if you tell me where you are keeping Maria." I said sternly.

"And what good will that do? This galaxy is doomed! It will fall before me! All living beings shall perish, including myself, but that is the price for peace." Gael said laughing.

"I don't plan on staying in this galaxy for much longer, but I'll stop you any way." I said smiling.

"So be it... Maria is imprisoned on the planet, Carellium along with hundreds of women from across the galaxy. It is a small frozen planet in the Delta Sector. It is the twelfth planet in orbit around the star, Ürudrian." Gael explained.

I then shut down the force field around his cell. He stepped out and bowed to me. "I hope that our paths will cross again soon, friend. I will be heading to Carellium as well. Until then, farewell." He said and left me. I returned to the surface to find it in a state of complete civil disorder. Throughout the entire city, women were fighting each other for control. I ran amidst the fighting to the military headquarters. I climbed to the top of the building where Amanda was helping Neo to board the Vulitan. Once we were inside the vessel, we lifted off and left the planet, using the Vulitan's electrical field to bypass the planetary shield. The four of us then entered the dining room though Neo was still limping. We all sat down together, none of us, save perhaps Neo, knew what to make of what had happened.

"That was noble of you to save Miranda, Shadow, but do no think that I am unaware of your visit with Gael. I know where Carellium is and we are going there now. It was not necessary for you to free Gael though now we can stop him also. However, we must be quick about it. I don't want him achieving his goals; otherwise, we will all be destroyed. Do you understand me?" Neo whispered to me.

"Yes, I understand. I will not allow him to bring farther harm to these people." I said nodding.

"See to it that you do not. Amanda, I am going to the helm. Would you like to accompany me?" He asked smiling.

"Yes, of course, and thank you again Shadow. I will never truly be able to repay you." She sighed.

"Don't worry, Amanda. I was only doing what was right." I laughed.

She then left the room with Neo.

"Do you approve of your daughter's relationship with Neo?" I asked Miranda.

"Yes, but it is not my business. She is an adult now and I trust her to make decisions for herself. Why would I not?" She asked confused.

"I am not sure. He is very difficult to understand. Amanda is perhaps the only person in the universe that truly knows him." I speculated.

"He has reached the Omega Point. Of course he is going to be difficult to understand." Miranda laughed.

"Your daughter mentioned another person that had reached the Omega Point. Do you know who it is?"

"That would be Alfred Nightbaron. He was a hedgehog that my daughter dated before the war began. However, he left her once he allied himself with Gael. We never heard from him again until his _accident_. We spread word that he had perished, but really he had found some way to accelerate his own evolutionary process and reach the Omega Point. He never explained it and even the Gaelturi do not fully understand his motives. Only Gael knows and it shall remain that way forever." Miranda explained.

"Where is Nightbaron now?" I asked concerned.

"Is that a rhetorical question, Shadow? He is everywhere. He is one with the universe just as Neo is. Only, Neo gave himself a physical body out of love for my daughter and an allegiance to you. It was a most noble act, becoming mortal purely out of love for another. I admire him for this." Miranda said sadly.

Neo and Amanda then returned to the dining room.

"We have left warp and are above the planet, just out of range of their sensors. I will teleport us down to the Arthenhold if you are ready?" Neo explained.

I nodded and walked over to them.

"I am staying here. Most of the prisoners within that complex were my people. I do not wish for them to see me." Miranda said warily.

"Understood. We will not be long." Neo said smiling at me.

We then teleported to the inside of the Arthenhold. It was very quiet and still.

"Where is Maria, Neo?" I asked sternly.

"Cell block-47, cell number 324. We are close to it already. However, if the cell is opened the alarm will sound. You will have to teleport into the cell and then teleport her out in order to prevent this. One she is freed we can hunt for Gael and stop him." Neo explained.

"Then let's get moving!" I yelled impatiently.

"Sh! Keep your voice down, Shadow!" Amanda whispered harshly.

"Yes... of course." I said embarrassed.

The insignia on Neo's uniform suddenly began to emit a low ringing sound.

"This is Captain Neo. What is the matter?" He asked concerned.

"Captain, the Ark has just entered the system! It has occupied the Gaelturi fleet, and a small fighter escaped from it! It is heading toward the surface!" One of the Vulitan's crew members said urgently.

"Sonic..." I murmured.

The complex shook violently and the alarm began to blare.

"Your friends, I suppose?" Amanda laughed.

I made no response.

"Come! We must make haste! There is little time! Gael will be warned of an attack and will arrive shortly!" Neo yelled as he ran down the corridor.

We followed him swiftly. I began to feel Maria's presence as we closed in on her location. Memories began to flash before my eyes, memories of her and the Ark. I began to think to myself: What would I do now that I had been in love with someone who I thought to be Maria? Would she understand my troubles and confusion? All of this would be answered soon, I supposed. Though I did know something. She was counting on me to save her, and I would not let her down now after so many years of struggle.

We ran by several cells. The women were all beginning to stir and talk amongst themselves as they alarm awakened them. We then found cell block-47. I rushed ahead of Neo and Amanda, running with all of my speed. I dashed by the cells, though still able to count them; 321, 322, 323... Fear gripped my heart: The cell was empty.

"She's not here!" I yelled down the corridor at Neo and Amanda.

"The laboratory! She must be there!" Neo said urgently.

"Wait! Shadow, this could be a trap! Gael knows that you are coming here." Amanda yelled in protest.

"Then I will go alone." I said flatly.

"No, Shadow. It is too dangerous. We are going with you. Gael expects that you will come alone. He knows you too well." Neo said as he grabbed my arm.

"So be it, but no one is performing any heroics. If we must die then let us die together with honor." Amanda said as she grabbed my other arm.

"Fine, but I'm not letting them harm Maria." I said sternly.

We followed Neo to the laboratory, though when we entered I must admit that I thought we had found the wrong room. It was black as night and the air was heavy upon my lungs. The door shut behind us and we were shrouded in utter darkness.

"What is this? What is happening?" I asked Neo.

"Oh, I had not thought of this..." Neo said quietly, making sure that Amanda could not hear him.

"What do you mean? Neo, what is going on? I thought that you were aware of everything that happened within the universe." I asked impatiently.

"Some things take precedent over others. Nightbaron is here. Amanda should not have come." Neo sighed.

Nightbaron was here indeed. He was everywhere within the room. I then realized that it was he who was the darkness. Cold laughter began to sound throughout the room.

"No, it can't be..." Amanda gasped.

"Well, Amanda, it is good to see you once again." He said amused.

"Ha! I can't say the same about you! I don't believe this! What are you doing here?" Amanda yelled furiously.

"What do you mean, Amanda? What do you think I should be doing? I am creating a weapon for Gael as I have since this war began." He said laughing.

I paid no more heed to Amanda's conversation with Nightbaron, though it mostly consisted of her vicious screams of bitter hatred. My distraction was caused by a voice. It was so quiet and yet it received my full attention.

"Shadow! Shadow, help me!" It cried.

I knew that it had to be Maria, somewhere lost in this darkness as well. I ran deeper into the void. Neo yelled at me, but I ignored him. All that I cared about was finding Maria. I knew that she needed me in this final desperate hour. I called out her name, but my own voice began to sound distant and far away as hers began to grow louder until I could not think. What was happening I wondered. Was this some sort of trick that Nightbaron was playing on me? However, I soon discovered that it was no ruse. The darkness suddenly vanished around me. We were in a laboratory, though it was empty. No one stood within it save one individual. I could not believe my eyes! Were they deceiving me? No, they could not be. I could feel it within the heart and soul that we shared. Oh, how much she hand changed from my memories! Perhaps it had only been five years to her, but she looked like a completely different person. She had become much stronger during her time here in the Arthenhold. It was obvious that the scientists here must have found a cure for her disease. She was much taller than I remembered. Of course, she was nearly twenty years old now and her physical changes were to be expected, however, something about her had not changed: Her eyes. They had that same glimmer of courage and determination mixed with love and compassion. Maria kneeled down and smiled at me. Oh, how I had missed that smile, the same that constantly appeared in my mind, though now it was real and I was assured that my memories were all real and that I truly was Shadow the Hedgehog, created to protect those who are unable to protect themselves, such as Maria. I ran to Maria and leaped into her arms.

I could not find any words to say, but wept into her shoulder.

"Oh, Shadow! I knew you would save me! I knew you would! I never lost hope!" Maria cried, making no efforts to hold back her tears.

How her voice had changed! No longer was her tone frail and weak, but resolute and firm as she spoke her words with conviction.

"Maria, please, never let go of me again! I will never leave you, I promise!" I sobbed.

The darkness around us soon receded though it did not vanish. Amanda and Neo emerged from it with expressions of awe. Even Neo seemed taken aback by Maria's changes.

"So that is what a human looks like?" Amanda said smiling.

"Indeed." Neo murmured.

"Neo! It's good to see you again as well! I like the outfit. You look cute." Maria laughed as she wiped away her tears.

"Thank you. Likewise, Maria." He said uncomfortably.

"I can't believe that I actually tried to impersonate her..." Amanda sighed.

Maria stood up and she held my hand.

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting you. My name is Maria!" She said happily.

"Oh, um... I'm Amanda, and I'm sorry..." She murmured shamefully.

"Sorry? For what?" Maria laughed.

"It's... It's nothing, Maria." I said hastily.

"Well, I do not mean to cease this outstanding reunion, but I feel Gael's presence approaching. We must make ready." Neo said urgently.

"Gael! He's coming here? Oh that can't be good!" Maria said in shock.

"Don't worry, Maria. Everything will be fine. I won't let them hurt you." I assured her.

"Prepare yourselves. Our enemy approaches." Neo whispered sternly.

The door swung open. It was indeed Gael. Behind him stood Sonic and the others, though, there was one among their company that did not come with us. Could it have been Blaze? It certainly appeared so, but how did they find her so quickly without my knowledge. Everyone was staring at Maria which made her feel very uncomfortable. Catharine ran to Amanda and embraced her. Suddenly, the darkness of Nightbaron dissipated when Gael entered the room. However, the darkness began to take being and form. It materialized into a sentient creature, a Mobian and a hedgehog. His fur was black and dry as death. His raiment was that of a shadow that enveloped his shape. His face was not perceptible. He was as a silhouette that had taken awareness and mobility. Never before had I faced a foe that instilled such terror and disgust. Was this the power that the Omega Point granted? If so, then its philosophy was a curse. It removed the soul and left the body, it removed the light and left the void, and it removed the spirit and left only death. Nightbaron was indeed the Darkness Incarnate and the Bringer of Doom. Could this be the end? I would not allow it. I would purge this abomination from its existence, however, I would not do it alone.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


	15. Chapter 15 (Shadow)

Chapter 15 The Final Battle

This being that was Nightbaron, could it truly have reached the Omega Point. I turned to Neo. He stared at Nightbaron with no expression upon his face. Why wasn't Neo doing anything, I wondered. He knew what was about to happen, didn't he? Nightbaron then conjured a minute vial of black fluid and handed it to Gael. I jumped through the air to grab it, but Nightbaron stopped me.

"Attack me and Maria dies." Gael said smiling.

"You have no idea how powerful I am, Gael! I'll stop you!" I yelled, shrugging Nightbaron off of me.

"Really? I don't think so. I possess the weapon that will wipe out this galaxy. It is a disease that we were able to fashion thanks to the help of Sonic. It will annihilate all women in the galaxy." Gael said as he shook the vial pleasantly.

We all gasped in disbelief. Was it even possible that Gael was able to accomplish such a terrifying calamity?

"Are you insane, Gael? This will ultimately kill you as well! You're going to wipe out every living race in the galaxy!" I yelled almost laughing.

"I am aware of that, Shadow. It is the price for peace. I only wanted to avenge the wrongs that were done to me. I'm sure that you can understand that." He said smiling.

"No, I can't understand it. It's nothing short of madness!" I yelled in denial.

"Say what you will, Shadow. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must transport to my ship. Farewell." Gael said laughing.

"Unexcused!" Sonic yelled as he flew through the air and grabbed Gael. They both vanished without a trace.

"Come on, guys! We have to get back to the Ark and stop him!" Tails said urgently.

"I will land the Vulitan and evacuate the prisoners. I'll bring them to the Ark shortly." Neo said as he ran off.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that." Nightbaron said as his physical form dissipated and reappeared in front of Neo. It was strange to hear his cold voice spoken from one individual entity.

Amanda then stepped between them.

"Don't worry, Neo. Go on. I'll stop him. I've been waiting a very long time for this." Amanda said as she clenched her fists.

Neo looked at me concerned.

"Stay with her, Shadow." He said and ran off down the corridor along with Tails and the others.

Now Amanda, Maria, and myself were all that remained to stand against Nightbaron. He stared at us (or at least it seemed so) with a cold, lifeless expression.

"I don't understand. If you've reached the Omega Point, then don't you want all of the universe to prosper?" Maria asked confused.

"Indeed I do, but the greed and hunger for power of these people has caused the galaxy to plunge into chaos. Gael my claim to be my friend, and he may have been when I was mortal, but now I see him as a fool just like all others who share his arrogance and lust for power. That is why I must destroy this galaxy. It is the only way to have peace." He explained.

"You're not fooling me, Alfred. You wanted this war! You always had!" Amanda yelled angrily.

"True, I did. However, the only reason I advocated this war was to further science and my research on the Omega Point. As you can see, the results were quite... successful." Nightbaron laughed pleasantly.

"But everyone isn't evil like Gael! The majority of people are good and care for others! How could you do such a thing? It isn't fair!" Maria yelled in defiance.

"You're right. It isn't fair, but it is what must be done to ensure peace, and I tell you that Gael will be the first to die by his own weapon. That disease is potent enough to take any life, not just those belonging to women. I merely lied to him in order to earn his cooperation." Nightbaron said flatly.

"No, I will not allow you to do this! Surely, you can see the fault in your ways? What good will come of this? Who will yet live to enjoy this peace that you desire? Your goal is fruitless, but there is still time. We may still be able to prevent Gael from unleashing this calamity. Help us and you shall be pardoned!" I said, almost begging.

"I do not need your pardon! You should be the ones begging for mercy, immaterial beings. May the Darkness consume you all and your feeble minds never see the light again!" Nightbaron yelled in a sudden rage.

He then grabbed my arm. I felt a cold chill spread throughout my body and the world around me began to slow and dim. Nightbaron then evaporated and was gone. I fell to my knees and struggled to keep myself upright. I then felt Maria's arms around my chest. She inclined my head onto her lap. I stared up to see both her and Amanda leaning over me.

"Shadow! Shadow, please, you promised that you would never leave me again! Don't let go now!" Maria cried as she held my hand.

Her tears fell down onto my face. I tried to wipe away her tears, but I could not move. My vision was fading and I was beginning to lose consciousness.

"Shadow, I'm so sorry! This is all my fault! Please, just hold on! I couldn't stand to lose you now, not after what we've been through! We could have been married, Shadow if I hadn't mistreated you! Oh, I feel so guilty, Shadow! I'm sorry!" Amanda cried as she placed her head on my chest and began to sob.

I tried vainly to stay awake, but my eyes shut, my last sight being the tears of the only two people that I had ever truly loved. Once I was unconscious, I experienced terrible nightmares. The universe was plunging into darkness. Even the stars themselves were extinguished as if they were candles in the night sky. I began to wonder if this was actually a dream or if it was real, for it did not feel like any sort of subconscious occurrence. I wondered if this could be a foreshadowing of our doom. Was this the fate of the universe? It could not be. I would refuse to allow it. Suddenly, I awakened to find myself still in Maria's arms. However, neither she nor Amanda were crying. In fact they were actually laughing.

"Shadow, you're alive!" Maria gasped as she hugged me.

Amanda said nothing but continued to laugh.

"I do not understand. How am I awake, and why are you two laughing?" I asked confused.

"How do you feel, Shadow?" Amanda asked concerned, but still laughing.

"I am fine, though, I feel somewhat odd. Did you kiss me, Amanda?" I asked smiling.

"It wasn't me, Shadow." She laughed, raising her hands in innocence.

"What? Maria, you... You kissed me?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I did. Would you like another since you were unconscious?" She laughed.

"But Maria, I don't understand." I said confused.

"Shadow, it's obvious that you love me very much. You thought that Amanda was me and I'm sure that you kissed her. You even proposed to her! Shadow, that was so sweet." Maria said as she hugged me.

"But Maria, you're human?" I said puzzled.

"So? That doesn't mean that we can't have some sort of relationship. I spoke with two of your friends while I was imprisoned here, and they both had relationships with people outside of their species. Even Amanda was once a fox and she is in love with Neo." Maria said shrugging her shoulders.

"I suppose I understand, Maria, but we have to stop Gael now!" I said, jumping to my feet.

"Yes, of course. Shadow, can you teleport us to Gael's ship?" Amanda asked excitedly.

I nodded and did as she asked. Once we were on Gael's ship, we began to make our way toward the bridge. Once we were there, we found Sonic fighting Gael. The vial of the disease was on the arm of Gael's chair. I was relieved to see that it had not been broken.

"Come to help out, Shadow?" Sonic asked smiling.

"Of course." I laughed.

Gael looked at me surprised.

"Well, I thought that Nightbaron had dealt with you, but it does not matter. He will be here soon to finish you off." Gael said nonchalantly.

The door to the bridge opened and Silver ran in, accompanied by Tails and Rouge. Rouge fly over to me.

"Well, Shadow, it's nice to see you again." She said crossing her arms.

"I was going to rescue you, Rouge, but I was caught up in other affairs." I sighed.

"I understand, Shadow. I knew that you would never leave me!" Rouge laughed and threw her arms around me. Maria eyed her suspiciously.

"Hey, guys! We have to get back to the Ark. We'll destroy the ship with the Eclipse Cannon." Tails said as he waved his hands toward Sonic.

Silver then used his psychokinesis to grab the vial.

"All right, Tails. Let's get out of here!" Sonic yelled as he ran toward us.

"You are all fools if you think that this is over! Destroy me if you will and the Gaelturi! None of it matters! Your efforts are in vain!" He yelled madly.

The bridge was then filled with darkness and Nightbaron appeared in front of us.

"You outsiders have meddled in our affairs for far too long! You know nothing of our world or our struggles. Now you shall pay, and perish with the rest of this galaxy!" He yelled angrily.

Nightbaron outstretched his arms and we were enveloped in a shadow of dark energy. I wondered if this could be the end. It was just like my vision. However, I did not feel weak at all. I looked up to see Neo standing over me.

"Neo, is that you?" I said in wonder.

"Arise, Shadow. This is not the end. Nightbaron may be powerful, but I am even stronger for he only reached the Omega Point by artificial means. I must give all of you my power. It is the only way that you can stop him." Neo said, helping me to my feet.

"But what will happen to you?" I asked sternly.

"You needn't worry about me. The fate of the galaxy is at stake. Nightbaron is unleashing his full power. I am the only one who can stop him, but it is not my destiny to save this galaxy. That is why I am endowing you and your friends with my power. You can destroy him and you will. With the combined efforts of you and your friends, you will be unstoppable." Neo said smiling.

He then took my hand and I felt an immense rush of energy flow through me. I fell to my knees in shock. I felt completely changed. It was just as he had said. I felt a connection to the universe that cannot be explained in words. I saw Neo walk over to Sonic and the others, each stopping to transfer his power to them. Once Neo had finished, he walked over to where Amanda lay. He picked her up in his arms and vanished. I witnessed the transformations of my friends. Out of all of them, Tails' seemed to be the most painful and drastic. He now possessed nine tails instead of two. Each were a meter in length and possessed the strength greater than any propulsion unit constructed by mankind, as I would soon discover. He wore a red cloak that mantled his shoulders. It looked as if he had aged fifteen years. He was now the epitome of intelligence and reason as if he were a renowned scholar or an enlightened philosopher. Rouge appeared to be a completely different person. Her hair had grown to such a length that it touched the ground like a veil of snow covering her body. Her wings were much larger and I assumed would carry her farther as well. She was even wearing a full-length dress which I had never seen her do. She was beautiful in my eyes, even more than she had been previously, for the deceptive look of her countenance was gone, replaced by one of wisdom and care. She looked at me and smiled peacefully.

Silver however, had not changed very much physically, but he now wore armor made of a cyan crystal that was decorated with his hexagonal pattern. He even had a sword and shield that were of the same construction and ornamentation. He was indeed a selfless warrior that fought to defend his friends. Sonic was now a bulwark against evil. He too wore armor crafted of the brightest steel and a blue plumed helmet. He bore no weapon, but held aloft a banner that displayed his insignia.

It then became apparent to me that all of our transformations represented a virtue that Neo possessed. I looked down at myself. I was also wearing a suit of armor, much like Sonic and Silver. However, mine was made of black steel and I had been given a sword of red fire and a cape that wrapped around my shoulders.

The darkness around us dissipated. I immediately ran to Maria. She was in fact, dead, but I felt no fear. I kneeled down and placed my hand on her forehead. Her eyes slowly opened and she gasped. I was able to revive her in the same way that Neo had originally.

"Shadow, what happened to you? You're so... I-I can't find the words, Shadow." Maria said embarrassed.

"Just repaying you for what you did for me earlier." I laughed, helping her up.

"You know, Shadow, if you really wanted to repay me then you should give me a kiss." Maria said smiling.

"Wait. What?" I said confused.

She then grabbed my shoulders and indeed kissed me. I was very startled, but it was over just as quickly as it had begun. Maria stared at me in awe.

"Shadow... I-I saw the universe. I mean I really saw it! I saw everything! It was so beautiful! It is reflected upon you, Shadow! How did this happen?" Maria said trembling as she began to cry.

"Neo shared his power with all of us so that we could defeat Nightbaron. You must have felt it when you... uh... kissed me." I said, rubbing my quills in embarrassment.

"It was beautiful, Shadow. You're beautiful, like nothing I've ever imagined." Maria said as tears ran down her face.

I held her hand and she smiled at me. I looked over at the others. Sonic said nothing which surprised me, but what truly scared me was that Rouge ignored us! However, she did seem occupied by her new-found power to create any gem that she wanted at will. I then returned my attention to Nightbaron. Gael was dead, his body laid upon the floor in front of him.

"I see that Neo saved you all, and he destroyed the disease as well; a pity, but no consequence. My powers far surpass Neo's when they are divided amongst fools who do not know how to use them." He laughed.

"That's why we're going to work together to defeat you, Nightbaron!" Sonic yelled as he stabbed his banner into the floor.

"Spoken like an arrogant child. These powers may make you all look powerful, but you are still the same as you always were. Now, Prepare to die and witness my own power!" Nightbaron yelled madly.

"Maria, stay here!" I said quickly and ran toward Nightbaron.

We were then thrown back when Nightbaron erupted into black fire. He was gone. We all teleported into space, a power that we all now shared. Gael's fleet had now been destroyed by the Ark. I spotted the Vulitan heading toward the surface of Carellium. I guessed that Neo was rescuing the prisoners.

"You coward! Fight us where we can see you!" Silver yelled.

"You wish to see me. Fine." Nightbaron laughed, though I knew not the origin of his voice.

"Guys, look! The stars! They're moving!" Rouge gasped.

They were indeed, in fact the stars were arranging themselves in some sort of pattern. Once they had stopped, the stars were given physical form and Nightbaron appeared once more in the raiment of a dark lord, fell and terrible to behold. It was unbelievable! He was enormous, a shadow that enveloped our entire vision. A great hammer he wielded, one that could crush planets.

"Behold, I am the Nightbaron, slayer of worlds and destroyer of stars! Now you worthless mortals shall perish along with this galaxy!" His voice thundered

"Come on guys! Let's do this!" Sonic yelled as he began to charge forward.

We soared through space with speed that I had never felt before. Sonic himself had actually reached the speed of light, his body transforming into pure energy at will. We smashed straight through Nightbaron though it did not seem to phase him.

"What happened? Why did it not work?" Sonic asked confused.

"He is a part of the universe itself, Sonic. If we wish to defeat him then we must sever his tie to the Omega Point." I explained.

"And how do we do that?" Silver asked.

"We must use our powers to send him into the Void, and to do that we must make him mortal." I said urgently.

"Mortal, but he's so powerful, Shadow?" Rouge asked confused.

"I believe that Neo will handle that, Rouge." I said smiling.

As if responding to our plea, the Vulitan flew by us and toward Nightbaron.

There was a small figure standing atop the Vulitan. It was Neo!

"Alfred, you have become a wretched monster in your lust for power! You have been driven mad by your knowledge of the universe. It has already destroyed you, but come, face me now if you have the honor or the courage!" Neo yelled mockingly.

"You foolish old man. You only wish to fight me in person because you gave away your powers. You are a disgrace!" Nightbaron laughed.

"I had hoped that you would see reason, for I say to you that my power is still in my control as you will soon see." Neo laughed.

Nightbaron's form as a menacing dark lord then disappeared. His original form then took shape on the hull of the Vulitan. However, he was now flesh and blood. Though his fur was still black, it was obvious that he was now mortal.

"What? What did you do?" Nightbaron gasped in shock.

"I have just as much power over the universe as you, Alfred. Now we shall have a fair battle, you and I. Whoever loses is banished to the Void until the end of time." Neo explained.

"So be it." Nightbaron said smiling.

He ran at Neo who sidestepped and kicked him in the back of the head. He fell face-first onto the hull of the Vulitan. Neo then drew a knife and jumped onto Nightbaron, plunging it deep into his heart. Nightbaron stared at Neo spit upon him.

"Curse you and all of your house, assassin! May my ghost inhabit even the darkest corners of your mind until the end of days!" Nightbaron coughed weakly.

Neo shrugged and removed his dagger. He then walked back into the Vulitan. Nightbaron's body disintegrated and never again was his name spoken in any tongue or written in any tale. None of us could believe what we had seen. Neo had slain our foe with such ease and efficiency! I returned to Gael's ship and brought Maria to the Ark where everyone was waiting.

"Shadow, I can't believe it! I haven't been home in five years. It hasn't changed at all!" Maria laughed.

I looked around to see everyone reunited once more. Sonic was with Amy, Tails with Catharine, Silver with Blaze, and Rouge with Knuckles.

"Well, Rouge, you must be in paradise now that you can have all the jewels that you could ever want." Knuckles said laughing as he observed her conjuring a ruby.

She tossed it on the floor and embraced him.

"Knuckles, I don't care about jewels anymore! All I care about is you! Please, I'm sorry for being so selfish!" Rouge cried.

"Rouge, It's fine. I never thought you were selfish." Knuckles said as he wiped away her tears.

Rouge smiled and kissed him. It pleased me to see her so happy. Tails and Catharine were also embracing.

"Miles, you've grown up..." She sighed.

"No, Catharine, I'm still a child. It's just in my appearance. Besides, you'll grow up very quickly, I'm sure." Tails laughed.

The door to the observation deck opened and Neo entered accompanied by Amanda and her mother. Catharine gasped and ran to hug them both.

"Mother! I thought you were dead!" She cried into her shoulder.

Miranda smiled and stroked her back.

"I'm here sweetheart. There's no need to worry." Miranda said soothingly.

"Neo, you didn't perhaps mess with Miranda's mind to make her repent did you?" Tails asked smiling.

"I spare lives when I can. Amanda and I are accompanying you to your home world. We would like to start new lives there." He murmured.

"Great! We'd love to have you both along!" Tails laughed.

I walked over to Silver and Blaze. They were staring out at the stars together, not saying a word. I did not wish to disturb them. Sonic and Amy were lying on the floor together already asleep.

I took Maria's hand. She picked me up in her arms and slung me around while I laughed like a child.

"Shadow, this is perfect! It really is! I don't care if we can't be together I still love you and that is all that matters. I can't wait to finally visit Earth with you!" She said excitedly.

"Me too, Maria. I feel the same way." I said, choked with tears.

"All right guys! Time to go back!" Tails laughed.

He ran to the control room with Catharine and we were soon back in orbit around Earth.

"Are you ready, Maria?" I asked smiling.

She grabbed my hands and nodded.

"Shadow, did you even have to ask?" She said rolling her eyes.

I laughed and we disappeared to the surface below.

ALL CHARACTERS ARE COPYRIGHT BY SEGA


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